After Max Verstappen e Lewis Hamilton, the most tense man on the track in Abu Dhabi will be the race director Michael Masi. Overwhelmed by criticism for the management of the Saudi Arabian GP, for that pact to compose the grid starting after the second red flag. He had asked Jonathan Wheatley, Red Bull’s sporting director, to accept his offer. Verstappen, after cutting a corner, would have started behind Hamilton, and Ocon on pole. And so it was. Words in freedom from which the forty-two-year-old Australian comes out badly, casting shadows on his sport.
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In this story everyone has their responsibilities, including F1: to create more pathos, leave it to Fom transmit entire radio communications, or extracted, between the race director and the representatives of the teams. Arguments full of quibbles, therefore slippery, never a direct had dared so much as Sunday. Masi, with his experience, should know that not only when he speaks. And it should have more pulse. Try to clarify, but increase the doubts: It was a normal discussion, we have had others over the course of the season and even before.
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But how? And above all why? Because the deals, the pacts, did not exist before. indeed changed the orientation on some types of infringements, such as cutting the track. a line shared by the same teams, although not foreseen by the regulation, until 2019 this possibility was not there. a more open interpretation of the rules of engagement with a view to letting go, avoiding giving a 5 ” penalty (the standard penalty) if the driver who made the cut agrees to return the position immediately.
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The referee’s offer must be shared with the college of four stewards. The referee is not like the referee in football, he cannot impose the change of position or other penalties, he can only advise to do so. Ignoring the advice is equivalent to opening an investigation by the stewards and leads to a certain penalty, no one does.
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Such dialogue had always taken place in the action phase on the track, there was no time to think about the offer: take it or leave it, in seconds. This time instead the negotiation lengthened due to the restart from a standstill, and here Masi should have used other tones and other words to reaffirm his authority. Between him and the sports directors of the teams the line of communication is always open, the continuous reports. Each team tries to point out alleged incorrectness, technical irregularities of the opponents, if the race director deems it appropriate, it passes the images to the referees for analysis. They are physically placed in another room, connected with an intercom and equipped with screens and slow motion systems to review every single frame of the incriminated episodes with access to any camera.
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There is a division of powers between the two entities: Masi, in addition to being the conductor (gives the go, orders the intervention of the safety cars, decides the red flags), he has the role of policeman bringing evidence to the stewards, who will have to judge them. Who, on the other hand, judges the work of Masi (who took over from Charlie Whiting in 2019) the FIA. The presidential elections for the post Todt will be held on December 17, with the British Graham Stoker favored over the Sheikh of Dubai, Mohammed Ben Sulayem. difficult to think of reversals, to disavow the race director to admit that he was wrong. Abu Dhabi waits, with a verdict for all.
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December 7, 2021 (change December 7, 2021 | 07:26 am)
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