The crucial missing ingredient from F1's Abu Dhabi response

Removing Michael Masi from the race director role deals with one matter arising from last year’s controversial championship finale. But has the FIA properly investigated, understood and remedied the systemic failings which led to it? STUART CODLING says we won’t know until the governing body publishes the results of its inquiry

GP Racing Mar 14, 2022, 2:21 PM

Upd: Mar 14, 2022, 2:33 PM

Throw ’em a bit of what they want – it’s an effective tactic whether you’re (hypothetically speaking, of course) a scandal-hit prime minister buying back favour with antsy backbenchers or, indeed, a newly installed FIA president juggling an unexpectedly hot potato left by your predecessor.

When it became clear the outgoing Todt regime’s strategy for dealing with the after-stink of the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP – just tell the punters they’re too dumb to understand how motor racing works – wasn’t going to cut it, Mohammed ben Sulayem smoothly executed a U-turn, announcing an official inquiry into the embarrassing affair.