Brundle: ‘Be careful what you wish for’ if Masi leaves

Martin Brundle believes being race director is “way too big a job for one person”, and replacing Michael Masi will not solve F1’s problems.

An investigation by the FIA is well underway into how the events of the season finale played out in Abu Dhabi, with race director Masi seemingly under pressure to keep his job after the controversy surrounding the call to allow one final racing lap, with Mercedes claiming he did not follow the FIA’s own rules in doing so.

The full findings of the internal proceedings are not expected to be released until the meeting of the World Motor Sport Council on 18 March, but speculation has been rumbling on about the future of the under-fire race director.

Sky F1 analyst Brundle thinks that, when it comes to replacing the Australian if he does leave the sport, there is no quick fix for Formula 1 – and “a lot of support” is required for Masi if he does continue in 2022, given the pressure placed upon him all season long, even if he ends up being the “sacrificial lamb” in the FIA’s reaction to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

“If the FIA and F1 want Michael Masi to stay, and if Michael Masi wants to stay, he’s clearly only got one life left, hasn’t he? So I don’t know if that’s tenable all round,” Brundle said on Sky Sports’ F1 Show special on Abu Dhabi.

“Who would you replace him with? Be careful what you wish for, I would say in this. What I absolutely know for sure is that changing Michael Masi will not fix the problem.

“This is way too big a job for one person to handle in a 23-race season [and] it’s only going to grow – we’re all over the world.

“Back in the day it was 16, 18 races for Charlie [Whiting, ex-race director] and Herbie [Blash, ex-deputy race director].

“Charlie used to start the race