F1 news LIVE: Michael Masi removed as race director as Ferrari launch new F1-75 car

Michael Masi has been removed as Formula 1 race director, the FIA have confirmed.

Masi played a decisive role in the controversy that marred the end of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December, with his decisions ultimately handing the F1 world title to Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

His call to allow selected backmarkers to unlap themselves behind race leader Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen ahead of the final lap came in for heavy criticism, particularly from Mercedes and team principal Toto Wolff, with the sport’s governing body now confirming a switch ahead of the new campaign.

The race director role will now be shared between Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich and be assisted by Herbie Blash with other changes over how much communication teams can have with them during races also coming into force.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem confirmed the changes in a video released on Thursday.

Full report here:

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has given a video presentation detailing his new plan for refereeing reforms within Formula One.

Here are the highlights:

• FIA F1 race director will be in touch with a virtual race control room – a remote office as a backup to “apply sporting regulations using most modern technology”
• Direct radio comms during race will no longer be broadcast live, to protect the race director from pressure
• Questions can still be put to the RD by teams, but following new protocols which are “non-intrusive”
• Unlapping process will be reassessed by sporting advisor committee in due course
• New race management team, including Masi being replaced and offered a new role within the FIA

Big news from the world of F1 as the FIA confirm the removal of Michael Masi from his position as race director.

He had been under scrutiny since his decision-making at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen charge past Lewis Hamilton on the final lap to win the race and the title – with Mercedes entirely unimpressed that only the cars between the two drivers had been given the chance to unlap.

More to follow shortly on this breaking story.

Here’s a good first look in Ferrari’s video at their newest vehicle for the 2022 F1 season.

It’s bold, it’s “innovative” they say, and it’s most definitely, absolutely, very-Ferrari red.

Plenty more to come on this but take a look at the car from all angles:

On the deep red livery, it’s a perfect fit for Leclerc.

“I think it fits perfectly. It’s a bit of a darker red, a bit more aggressive, but for a car like this I think it fits.”

“The 75 year anniversary logo which fits well with the colour scheme, we’re trying to represent a bit the old days of Ferrari. This is a mix of what we had last year at the front, what we had at the back, you mix it and this is a good representation.

Ok, we’re live with Ferrari!

Today they are unveiling the new car for the 2022 Formula One season, the F1-75 – and the first impressions are good.

Charles Leclerc: “I love it! I will love it even more if it’s fast on track but I absolutely love the look.”

Carlos Sainz: “I think it looks aggressive, it looks radical and as Charles says, I hope it’s fast!”

The hit show will document the dramatic 2021 season, which culminated in Max Verstappen winning his maiden F1 world title in Abu Dhabi, edging out Lewis Hamilton.

The Belgian-Dutch driver will not appear in the upcoming season though after detailing issues in the way the show portrays drivers.

“I understand that it needs to be done to boost the popularity in America,” he told the Associated Press. “But from my side as a driver, I don’t like being part of it.”

“They faked a few rivalries which they don’t really exist. So I decided to not be a part of it and did not give any more interviews after that because then there is nothing you can show.

“I am not really a dramatic show kind of person, I just want facts and real things to happen.”

More on the show’s launch:

Formula One is braced for disputes over teams’ interpretations of this season’s new rules, but will now have the power to crack down swiftly on any outfit trying to use loopholes to circumvent them, the sport’s motorsport head Ross Brawn said.

The series is set for its most radical regulatory overhaul in decades, aimed at levelling the playing field and improving wheel-to-wheel racing.

In the past, Formula One teams have occasionally protested each other’s interpretations of the rules and Brawn is aware that the new regulations could spark disputes as engineers seek out loopholes in order to steal a march on their rivals.

“It wouldn’t be F1 without disputes,” the 67-year-old, who as team principal of his eponymous Brawn team had to fend off protests over the car’s double diffuser at the start of their title-winning campaign in 2009, told reporters.

“…So it would be naive to think we’re not going to have arguments.”

The governing FIA, which has been inspecting teams’ 2022 challengers for compliance with the new rules, has already found some “surprises” the body’s single seater head Nikolas Tombazis said.

But there had not been any massive “alarm bells” so far, he added.

Brawn said the altered governance system, which allows changes to be made with the support of the FIA, commercial rights holder FOM and at least eight of the 10 teams, would discourage outfits from straying too far from the regulations in their search for a loophole.

It would also give the sport the ability to outlaw anything too controversial.

“If you know that eight teams and the FIA and F1 can stop you doing something if they feel it’s wrong then you’re a bit more circumspect in doing it knowing that that could be an issue,” he said.

“So I think the governance is something which also gives another layer of protection.”

More than 1.5 billion Formula One fans tuned in to watch the titanic title battle between seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull rival Max Verstappen unfold over the course of the 2021 season, according to viewership and attendance numbers released by the sport on Thursday.

Cumulative TV audience for the 22-race season reached 1.55 billion, up four percent over 2020.

Unsurprisingly, the controversial season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Verstappen and Hamilton level on points going into the final race, drew the highest viewership of the season with 108.7 million viewers tuning in, 29% higher than the viewership recorded by the Yas Marina finale in 2020.

Verstappen won the drivers’ title after an altered safety car restart procedure allowed him to pass race-leader Hamilton on the final lap seven corners from the finish.

Mercedes clinched an unprecedented eighth straight constructors’ title.

“The 2021 season was something very special,” said Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali in a statement.

“We had a championship battle that went to the last race with huge excitement throughout the whole championship.”

With Verstappen fighting for his first title, the Netherlands registered the highest growth in cumulative viewership at 81% over 2020.

The United States, where the sport has seen its popularity surge thanks in large part to Netflix show ‘Drive to Survive’ and which is set to host two races in 2022, also saw strong growth, with viewership going up 58% year-over-year.

The sport saw 2.69 million spectators attend races at the track, after COVID-19 imposed restrictions in 2020.

The U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas was the best-attended race of the season with 400,000 fans turning up over the weekend followed by the Mexican Grand Prix (371,000 fans) and Hamilton’s home British Grand Prix at Silverstone (356,000 fans).

Half of the season’s 22 races saw crowds of over 100,000 including the rain hit Belgian Grand Prix (213,000) which was called after a minimum number of laps behind the safety car.

Verstappen’s home Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, which returned to the calendar after a 35-year absence, saw 195,000 of his orange-clad fans packing the grandstands.

Overall attendances were lower than the pre-COVID 4.16 million but the sport expects spectator numbers to bounce back once the pandemic subsides.

On the digital front, F1’s followers grew 40% to 49.1 million, making it the year’s fastest-growing major sport in terms of follower growth.

F1 is set for a record 23-race season this year starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20.

Formula 1 teams are launching their new cars for the 2022 season, as a new era takes hold.

2022 sees F1 undergo a significant regulation change which has led to a completely new era of car design, meaning there is potential for the grid order to be shaken up and for backmarker teams to challenge further up the grid order. The new rules will require teams to have nailed the finer details of the transition in order to succeed.

The regulation change has been devised in order to increase the quality of racing in F1. The return of ground effect aerodynamics is designed to allow drivers to follow one another more closely and encourage more intense wheel-to-wheel racing, while a five-inch increase in the width of the Pirelli size is part of plan to allow drivers to push harder for longer.

In terms of universal visual changes, this year’s cars have small winglets covering the tops of the front tyres, the front and rear wings have been simplified, and intricate bargeboard designs have been outlawed.

Some teams, including Red Bull, have launched ‘showcar’ versions of their 2022 machinery so far, with the livery slapped onto a default vehicle designed to hide any ingenious aerodynamic developments teams may have designed over the winter.

The first pre-season test gets underway in Barcelona on 23 February, before the season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix at the Sakhir International Circuit on the weekend of 18 March.