Eduardo Freitas to debut as F1 race director at the 2022 Spanish GP

The 2022 F1 Spanish GP, set to take place later this month, will see Eduardo Freitas take the mantle of race director for the first time at the Circuit de Catalunya.

The Portuguese World Endurance Championship (WEC) race director was announced as part of a two-man team involving himself and former DTM man Niels Wittich as replacements for the now-ousted Michael Masi.

The plan is for the pair to alternate in the role of race director and deputy race director two races at a time.

According to a report carried by motorsport.com, Freitas will serve as race director for the next two races in Barcelona and Monaco. He will then turn his attention to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which coincides with the Azerbaijan GP in Baku.

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"A very good start going into this new era of F1" - McLaren boss pleased to see no ambiguity in rule interpretation from new race directors

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl feels the new era of F1 has gotten off to a good start, with the new race directors keeping things 'straightforward'.

Speaking in an interview ahead of the Miami GP, the German praised the pair, saying:

“From my point of view the new set-up with Niels [Wittich] and also Eduardo [Freitas] had a very good start going into this new era of F1. Niels is quite straightforward in terms of making sure that the rules get enforced. He's also quite straightforward in terms of getting across what he's expecting. And that's what I personally like."

Seidl went on to add:

“And at the same time, he is always available for a dialogue and for constructive input as well, if you think things need to be reconsidered. And from this point of view, when I look now how these first races went, I think we are in a good place.”

Freitas was unable to attend the season opener in Bahrain and the inaugural Miami GP last weekend and had FIA veteran Colin Haywood fill in for him. The latter was the result of a positive COVID-19 test.