Formula 1 News: Former F1 driver Marc Surer believes Michael Masi was sacked due to the ‘outside pressure’

Formula 1 News: Masi sacked from his race director role: Former Formula 1 driver Marc Surer believes that FIA should have shown support for former race director Michael Masi. He was the race director in last year’s season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Pix. Follow Formula 1 2022 LIVE Updates with InsideSport.IN

Marc said, “I think it was an overreaction of the FIA to get rid of Masi. Because overall over the whole season and over the last years he did not do a bad job. I think the FIA needed a new organization to take pressure from the race director but it didn’t need to replace him.

BREAKING: FIA confirms Michael Masi has been removed from his position as race director. pic.twitter.com/F5s1dFULFk

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) February 17, 2022

Formula 1 News: Former F1 driver Marc Surer believes Michael Masi was sacked due to the ‘outside pressure’

Also Read: Formula 1: George Russell backs restructuring of race refereeing, claims eighth title was ‘taken away from him’

“Because I think a lot of decisions are made under pressure and you have no time to decide. You have the team managers in your ears trying to influence you. That was just too much, I can imagine why all this happened.”

“So, why replace Masi? It was because of the pressure from the outside and not because he did a bad job. He made maybe some bad decisions yes, but not a bad job.”

The Race Control restructuring by FIA after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021, Masi had left the race director role. Now, this role will be shared by two people. A Virtual Race Control will also be set up, comparable to VAR in football.

Formula 1 News: Former F1 driver Marc Surer believes Michael Masi was sacked due to the ‘outside pressure’

Also Read: Formula 1: F1 2022 cars undergo massive changes as per new FIA rules, Aggressive designs and liveries fire up excitement – Check all changes

The new race director duo is World Endurance Championship race director Eduardo Freitas, alongside Niels Wittich who recently departed that role in DTM. The duo will be assisted by Charlie Whiting’s former deputy Herbie Blash. Meanwhile, Surer feels this is the main positive to out from the restructure.

Marc Surer further added, “But the good thing is they re-organized the management. I am very, very happy that Herbie Blash is back. We should not forget that with Charlie Whiting. He always praised him for his good decisions, but a lot of the time there was always Herbie Blash alongside him. So to hear that he is back is the best message.”

Michael Masi will now be given a different role within the FIA moving forward. The new 2022 season will kick start on March 20th in Bahrain.

Formula 1 News: Former F1 driver Marc Surer believes Michael Masi was sacked due to the ‘outside pressure’