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In the lead-up to the first F1 race of the year, new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem discussed how he came upon the idea for a Virtual Race Control for the sport.
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During an interview with Tom Clarkson, the 60-year-old shared insight into the new idea to help the race directors during the 2022 F1 season. Ben Sulayem said:
“One of the main things is the FIA Virtual Race Control and that’s very important. The idea came to me in January when I made a visit to some of the Formula 1 teams, and went to one of the launches. I said, ‘what’s that, it looks like a theater!" and they said this is actually race control, but virtual. I said, ‘why don’t we have one?’ I said ‘do we have one?’ and they said no.”
The Emirati went on to add, saying:
“So now we invested in it, and it’s actually working since yesterday. We didn’t promise and not deliver. We are delivering. So they will have another race control there. They will have also officials. They will have also from the legal department, and they will support. The Virtual Race Control will not be running the race. The race will be run from the country itself.”
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem grateful to former F1 race director Michael Masi
While in conversation with Tom Clarkson during the same interview, Mohammed Ben Sulayem also took time to express his gratitude towards Michael Masi, who was the F1 race director for three years.
When discussing Masi's current situation and role, Ben Sulayem said:
“We are grateful for the three years he invested with us, and he put his time in. But now we are negotiating with him of course to stay in the FIA. He is an important figure to us. Our people are negotiating another place for him within the FIA. Now we want to move on, that we finished with the race in Abu Dhabi, the analysis.”
Michael Masi was replaced by former DTM man Niels Wittich and WEC race director Eduardo Freitas last month. It remains to be seen what role he will take on going forward.
