Following the controversial end of the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi, the FIA was forced to revamp the way it referees F1 races, sacking then-race director Michael Masi .
The Australian was replaced by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who receive more support and have the Remote Operations Center, the F1 equivalent of VAR.
But during the first third of the 2022 season, the new race direction has been criticized by teams and drivers, due to its lack of consistency.
The wording and enforcement of Formula 1’s pit entry and exit rules is the latest issue to cause controversy, after Max Verstappen escaped a penalty in Monaco, while teams are also looking for more consistency in judging. the way the pilots hinder each other.
This led Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas to suggest that “one race director would be better than two”, and one of the Haas drivers, Kevin Magnussen, to say that it is now “more difficult to really understand what the rules are”. .
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went further: “I don’t trust the FIA. It’s getting more and more inconsistent. I’ve already had four reprimands, and the last time in Monaco, I still don’t know why.”
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto admits the lack of consistency bothers teams too, but says they should do their part to help race control with constructive criticism .
Asked to weigh in on the matter in Baku, Binotto said: “If I look at the start of the season, certainly as Ferrari we cannot be happy with that. I think we have often been handicapped by decisions, but that is the stuff”.
“We understand the difficulty. I think that to make them improve, we also have to help them. I think it has to be a collaboration between the teams and the race directors, to make sure that they understand it and improve as quickly as possible.
“Without a doubt, so far this season, sometimes there hasn’t been consistency in decisions, I think we can’t deny that, just as we can’t deny that it’s not an easy job. It’s going to take some time. We just have to speed it up as much as possible.” .
The banning of unnecessary radio communications between team managers and race management, and its removal from television broadcast, has helped prevent the public outbursts that at times marred the 2021 season.
But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff acknowledges race directors are still “in the line of fire” and believes teams should therefore have some empathy when mistakes are made.
“As Mattia said, it’s a difficult job because you’re also in the spotlight and certainly [like in] Monaco, when you come across those weather conditions, [with that] weather, and suddenly you have to make decisions, that it’s very, very difficult,” Wolff explained.
“And I think the more races they go through, the more experience they get, the more they adapt, too, to the pressure that comes with Formula 1. But they are part of Formula 1, just like the teams.”
“Teams make mistakes, because a wheel is not on the car, or you get the strategy wrong. Likewise, the race director is in the line of fire. So I think it’s the same for everyone.”
Haas team boss Gunther Steiner believes the fallout from Abu Dhabi will continue to increase the focus on race direction decisions, but says Wittich and Freitas, who have so far run six and two races respectively, are making a “decent job”.
“After last year’s race in Abu Dhabi, the race director is much more in the spotlight than in previous years,” said Steiner. “So the whole world looks at them and with every little mistake, they are criticized more than before and that can’t be easy.
“We just have to give them a little bit of time and I think they’ll get there. Without having [been] a race director in Formula 1 before, they’re doing a decent job.”
