Lewis Hamilton’s big announcement on the F1 revolution and it appears his demands of the FIA now include the prosecution of decision makers deemed to have made an error of judgement – The FIA has recently made a number of changes, including the retirement of Michael Masi and the introduction of a video analysis system, and Lewis Hamilton has spoken out about the FIA’s initiatives and demands more change.
Following the controversy at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on the 12th December, the FIA made a number of changes to the Formula One regulations. The body’s president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, recently announced the introduction of a video analysis system, similar to VAR in football.
Michael Masi, who was heavily criticised for making a number of controversial decisions during the 2021 season, most notably the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix final safety car phase. He has thus been removed from his position as race director. Lewis Hamilton spoke about the changes when he returned to the press on Friday.
“It’s good to see that the FIA is taking action to make improvements.” commends Hamilton,
“Confidence can obviously be lost in an instant. But gaining it is something that is built over a long period of time. Although I didn’t see it coming, yesterday’s initial announcement is perhaps a first step.” says Hamilton.
The British ex F1 Champion isn’t satisfied however, seeing this as a ‘first step’ certainly smacks of a personality who could consider himself bigger than the governing body of his profession. Hamilton continues by saying that “it doesn’t necessarily change everything at the moment. We need to see some real action”.
Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of his statements is the demand that “holding people to account is the key.” and that he and Wolff will “keep our eye on this and that these changes actually happen, that the rules are applied fairly, accurately and consistently”, in effect the ability to prosecute decision makers during the race when an ‘unfair’ situation arrises.
It’ll be interesting to see if the new FIA president is merely paying lip service to the Hamilton Wolff duo, and actually has the balls to stand up to Mercedes, or if there will be further concessions to placate the powerful Mercedes Benz AMG F1 team.