Toto Wolff offers his reaction to Michael Masi's removal as F1 Race Director

Toto Wolff has said that the right steps have been taken over the FIA’s decision to remove Michael Masi as Formula 1 Race Director for the new season.

The sport’s governing body revealed yesterday via a video statement from president Mohamed Ben Sulayem that Masi would be removed as F1 Race Director after the fiasco in Abu Dhabi.

As well as that, a review on the unlapping process behind the Safety Car would be undertaken and a new virtual race control room would be set up away from circuits this season to allow decisions to be made cold, without the potential influence of team members.

Indeed, they appear to be steps in the right direction from the FIA and, speaking at the Mercedes car launch at Silverstone, Toto Wolff seems to think that good progress has been made too:

“It’s very encouraging to see action has been taken. There is a much more robust structure now and a support structure for the racing director. The FIA has stated that there will be a virtual race control room with state-of-the-art technology.

“The new guys are going to be in place for the Barcelona test and I think it’s the right steps.”

Mercedes, then, will be looking forward rather than backward as F1 enters its new era and, hopefully, the chapter that was Abu Dhabi 2021 can begin to be closed at last.