Red Bull supported Michael Masi's removal as F1 race director

Red Bull reportedly supported the FIA’s decision to remove former F1 race director Michael Masi from his position, despite publicly supporting the latter. Horner had recently termed the motorsport governing body’s actions as “harsh”, claiming that the decisions were taken under pressure.

According to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, however, the decision to release Masi from his race direction duties was unanimously supported by all ten F1 teams. In a video statement released shortly after the FIA announced the new action plan, Sulayem detailed the process that was employed to arrive at the decision, saying:

“I proposed an in-depth reform of the organization, including refereeing and race direction. It was unanimously supported by the F1 CEO and team principals.”

Michael Masi lost his position as race director just three years after taking over the role from Charlie Whiting in 2019. The Australian’s controversial decision to only allow select cars to unlap themselves at last season’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix potentially allowed Max Verstappen a lasting advantage over title rival Lewis Hamilton.

After Hamilton’s loss, calls for Masi’s sacking increased as incensed fans perceived his actions as illegal and favoritism towards Red Bull and Verstappen. Meanwhile, the FIA for the most part resisted appropriating the blame on Masi and appeared to shield him from the public’s outrage.

As calls for accountability and reform continued to mount heading into the new season, the new FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, however, was forced to implement organizational changes in an effort to salvage the FIA’s credibility and reputation.

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Red Bull pleased with strong start to 2022

Red Bull had a strong but uneventful pre-season testing. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez completed various run programs across the three-day testing period behind the wheel of the radical RB18.

The team’s head of Race Engineering, Guillaume Rocquelin, has revealed that they pretty much hit all their planned targets for testing without much issue. Speaking to RN365, Rocquelin said:

“We have a good direction for how to improve the car. Max is pleased so far. There are some balance limitations, but nothing that makes us think we need to turn things upside down to make the car work.”

Apart from the gearbox issues that limited Sergio Perez on day 2, the Milton Keynes-based outfit demonstrated strong reliability. Meanwhile, Verstappen pounded around Barcelona to rack up some of the highest mileage of all the drivers.