The FIA is currently conducting an investigation into the decisions made at the end of the season finale at the Abu Dhabi GP, where the last lap restart ended up deciding the world championship in favor of Max Verstappen.
The race director at that time, Michael Masi , had a difficult ballot to resolve and, how could it be otherwise, he was criticized by one of the two parties that were playing for the title. Immediately after the race, Mercedes protested and Lewis Hamilton claimed that the outcome of the race had been “manipulated”.
The new FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem , has been very clear in his desire to resolve the situation in the best possible way, something that could lead to a change in the structure of race control to better support the race director, who At this point in the year it is still unknown if it will continue to be Masi .
Speaking to Sky Sports on the red carpet at the Autosport Awards on Sunday night in London, Red Bull principal Horner said he hoped to see changes to ensure the race director can make better decisions during races.
“The new chairman has focused a lot on this, I think work is being done to ensure that the race director has more support,” said Horner.
“The tools we have at our disposal are much more advanced than Michael and his team. So I think a lot of attention has been paid to that over the winter.”
“I think that role will now be more supported, which will hopefully allow decisions to be easier and quicker. On the other hand I think we also need to look at the rules to simplify some of them.”
The teams will meet next week at the F1 Commission for talks before the World Motor Sport Council gives final approval to any changes ahead of the new season which starts in March.
Hamilton has yet to speak publicly about the season finale in Abu Dhabi, but he did make a post on his social media for the first time in almost two months over the past weekend, writing: “I left. Now I’m back!” !”.
Asked whether the fallout from Abu Dhabi had spoiled the celebrations and the success of Verstappen and Red Bull, Horner replied: “Not really, because the only ones who have talked about it are you!”
“We enjoyed that championship win and obviously now we are focused on 2022. 2021 is history, we are excited for the season ahead.”
Red Bull will unveil its new car for the 2022 season, the RB18, on Wednesday ahead of its first appearance on tarmac later this month at the Barcelona pre-season test.
