‘F1’s popularity has put more pressure on Masi and co’

Daniel Ricciardo believes F1’s growing popularity has put the race director and the stewards “under pressure” to produce a show.

Formula 1 is still talking about the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and, more to the point, FIA race director Michael Masi’s controversial decision-making that ultimately decided the World title.

The Australian official set the stage for a final lap shootout between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen when he made the unprecedented call to let only some cars unlap themselves because if all eight had, it would have meant the race finished under the Safety Car.

Masi has been heavily criticised for that decision, so much so that his position as race director for the 2022 season has yet to be confirmed.

That Abu Dhabi decision, though, was only the tip of the iceberg when it came to questionable decisions from either the race director or the stewards during the 2021 season.

Ricciardo feels for them, saying they are under more pressure than ever before.

“I think the one thing was I feel there is too much pressure on them, to be honest,” he said as quoted by Motorsportweek.com.

“I think the sport in general has a lot more exposure now, which is great in some elements but it also puts others under pressure who probably aren’t asking for that pressure or used to it.

“It’s hard to look back in time and think when the race director or stewards were so much in the media. It’s kind of quite unique and unknown territory.”

Such were the issues in last year’s championship that the season started with Red Bull questioning how rules could be changed midway through a race at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and after a 22-race season, it ended with just about everyone in the paddock asking the same question in Abu Dhabi. Different context, same inconsistency.

The Abu Dhabi incident has led to an FIA investigation, while already the F1 managing director Ross Brawn has said the teams won’t be able to contact the race director in the future after Masi was badgered by Red Bull and Mercedes.

“I think that’s where there was a ripple in the situation and I think that highlighted some of the stuff maybe too much and it then put pressure on the next situation more,” Ricciardo added.

“It already felt intense and I feel everyone should have probably taken a step back. We are obviously all assigned roles and that person is there for a reason – just let them do it.

“At times there was a lot of interference and I think that made it more messy than it should have been.

“So less interference in general and let people get on with it, probably with less pressure, and then see what the outcome is.”

The McLaren driver has thrown his support behind Masi, saying if his compatriot wants to stay on then he “should stay”.

He added: “I don’t think one event should be the picture of everything.

“I went home for Christmas and inevitably friends, family were like ‘oh that last race, what do you think?’

“So it was certainly mixed. I would say a little bit more were like ‘not sure how I felt about that’ but then others were like ‘well, that was a pretty entertaining last lap, title gets decided’.

“I had a front-row seat for some reason, so I was like ‘is this really happening? This is nuts’.

“It was a moment in time for sure and not everyone will appreciate that moment in time. But I think lovers of the sport will still be lovers of the sport.”

PlanetF1 Verdict

Has F1's popularity put more pressure on Masi?

Daniel Ricciardo believes that F1's growing popularity is causing added pressure on Race Control.