Michael Masi has been removed from his post of race director by the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile after a detailed interrogation into the Abu Dhabi GP controversial ending.
The news was broken to the global world by the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Thursday.
Sulayem said Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich will share the duties once held by Masi, who’ll be offered a new position with FIA. The change is part of a restructuring that includes prohibiting radio communication between the teams and the race director.
Max Verstappen won the championship last season in what was a thrilling and controversial season finale.
Verstappen racing for Redbull Racing was in a locked battle with Mercedes Lewis Hamilton. Masi said that the lapped cars won’t unlap themselves after a Nicholas Latiffi crash due to which Verstappen had created a handsome gap between him and race leader Hamilton.
But after complaints from Redbull Racing over the radio Masi changed his mind and asked the lapped cars to overtake. It eventually reduced the gap between Verstappen and Hamilton.
READ MORE:Â F1 Esporsts sees record breaking viewership and engagement figures in 2021
Since Verstappen was on fresh tires. He had an undue advantage over the rusty Mercedes car. Had the lapped cars not overtaken Hamilton would have won the championship a record 8th time.
