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The Formula 1 race director situation just gets messier

Formula 1 has been facing a few issues of late. Unfortunately, the most recent issue was in Austria when crowd behavior dominated the headlines. It should have been track limits that dominated the headlines but that was not to be the case.

Now it has come out that Sebastian Vettel has stormed out of a driver meeting at last week’s Grand Prix. He believed that an argument was going around in circles and did not believe that anything could be resolved.  He made good with the race director meaning that he only received a suspended fine.

However, this is the second attack on the race director for the weekend and should ring alarm bells. However, then the biggest news dropped yesterday when Michael Masi, the former race director left the FIA. He cited wanting to go back to Australia to pursue other opportunities and be closer to his family.

Formula 1 appears to be in turmoil under its new leadership.

The news that Masi was leaving came seven months after the race that cost the former race director his job.  It also broke the weekend after the FIA faced its toughest challenge in terms of driver dissent. This timing cannot be a coincidence, it is surely a case of Masi losing faith in the organization which threw him under the bus at the end of last season.

There are too many things coming out right now that never did under Masi. I mean, yes, there was the end-of-season controversy last season, but it is my belief that Masi had the best interest of the sport at heart. He did not want one of the best driver’s championship races to be finished under safety car conditions. He wanted a live, exciting finish, a best man wins scenario.

Now, with all the controversy surrounding Formula 1 there is a good chance that Masi is distancing himself from the organization. He may be doing this in an effort to get a good outcome elsewhere. One thing is for sure, Masi should be saluted for the three years that he was in charge. He took the job on after the beloved Charlie Whiting passed away unexpectedly and ran with it.