The fresh F1 chaos FIA leadership is causing

[@WeAreTheRace]

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[@1701Wren]

Could you consider doing one up north at some point in the future - Manchester/Liverpool/Leeds/Newcastle/Glasgow/Edinburgh?

[@JoeVer-d6v]

There's nothing that unites F1 teams and fans like hating on the FIA

[@benjarsenault]

80's F1 fans be like: "God dammit this is Briatore all over again isn't it?"

[@NicotineRosberg]

@@benjarsenaultHuh? Flavio ??

[@glentatt1259]

Well the FIA certainly make it easy to hate them

[@apocalypse9774]

​@@benjarsenault Jean Marie Balestre

[@jamesletts2209]

@@NicotineRosbergI was confused too 🤣

[@FabledGentleman]

The "How i run FIA is none of your business" statement, is just the worst possible response. What are FIA without the drivers and the teams? Absolutely nothing. MBS is slowly becoming a new sports head dictator, in which by now, we've had far too many. He needs to be replaced.

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

Tactless, heavy-handed, and decisive. The comparisons to middle eastern dictators grow stronger by the day.

[@timoooo7320]

Unfortunately, the FIA owns the championship

[@alajibril]

@@timoooo7320 no they dont liberty does fun fact indie car is not sanctioned by fia and it doing fine liberty can choose to break from fia as they own the name and the history

[@zatgeye7320]

​@@alajibril The USAC/indycar/CART/CCWS/IRL/INDYCAR relationship with sanctioning bodies isn't a model i'd follow. Nothing about indycar is fine. Liberty owns the commercial rights, not the championship. Indycar is a member of the FIA and a signatory of their regulations.

[@sankhadeepburman9709]

@@timoooo7320They dont actually. At one point of time all teams decided to create their own regulations board but that never worked out.

[@ollywright]

The fish is rotting from the head. So many FIA officials have quit or been fired because of Ben Sulayem. He's clearly the source of the issues. He has to go. I would hope F1 finds a way to get him out before he does even more damage.

[@piuthemagicman]

F1 has zero power to decide about the FIA boss! FIA governs race rules across the majority of world championship car motorsports. It is independent of all motorsport series.

[@FDALl-ms5kg]

​@@piuthemagicmanits incredible how long the fia has had a stronghold in motorsports and yet it manages to shit the bed so consistently

[@B.404M]

They invited Arabs to lead and now wonder why there is no democracy... at least F1 and FIA got morals that are not driven by money 😂😂

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

That's a good turn of phrase, there. Rotting from the head down lol I jokingly said this dude was at least the entertaining kind of stupid, and that I'm kinda alright with him sticking around. Getting real hard to keep the act up when I hear of him pulling shit like this. I still don't like the idea of a world where Liberty and FOM have all the power, because an entertaining idiot beats some greedy scumbag businessmen any day, but neither option is great. F1 is toast the moment profits dry up.

[@gabrieldias3479]

​@@piuthemagicmanexactly. People thing about the FIA as an F1 governing body. But it's all series throughout the world. There are even countries with zero relevance regarding racing which can vote. Even worse, votes have the same weight. This is how MBS will be kept as FIA's president/CEO/sole ruler/whatever.

[@Marshall-h5u]

The decision not to bring out the safety car when the mirror was on track was disgraceful and dangerous

[@LordSaliss]

Honestly a VSC for 1 minute would have been fine for someone to go out on track when no cars were coming down the straight and pick the mirror up. Would have solved so many problems in the race. I thought thats what they were planning when the yellow went up for that short time, but then they cancelled the yellow and just let it sit there even after someone ran it over...

[@soundscape26]

@@LordSaliss Also, the VSC would make most cars run to the pits for a tyre change further facilitating the job of the marshal who just had to collect a mirror

[@apkk5594]

I agree. Assuming no one hit the mirror, were they really going to just finish the race with yellow flags on that part of the track?

[@Marshall-h5u]

The Tv commentators the Marshals the fans watching at home all new at the time to deploy the safety cars it was no brainer the race director should be in a alot of hot water because he put the drivers at risk

[@querty292]

Now go pay that 30s penalty for mildly messing up safety car time

[@guitarsimon1]

We really did take Charlie Whiting for granted at the time...

[@mkunz-3548]

Its like with toilet paper, once missing you understand the value of it

[@thesupremekai1980s]

The commentators always used to say the experienced Charlie Whiting who always does a good job.

[@Racher50]

I have a feeling Charlie would’ve probably been forced out by now

[@SinisterMD]

Ben Sulayem is the worst kind of manager. Good managers will listen to the people around them and work towards a solution. He doesn't have the proper personality to do that and it's hurting the sport.

[@chris9650]

Micro manager to the extreme. Time to go.

[@pokawolf24]

He's Saudi. It's in his blood

[@EhEhEhEINSTEIN]

My way or the you're fired way.. good luck with that

[@The_ZeroLine]

He’s confused dictatorial leadership with strong leadership. He probably thinks Putin is a great, “strong” leader despite his obvious incompetence.

[@gre4ny214]

MBS needs to go

[@timoooo7320]

They should elect someone else

[@junkiexl86]

FIA needs to go

[@Crazycatman]

Michael Masi back pls

[@thenoobdestroyer100]

Agreed he's a complete joke more issues have arose since he got power than any other time that I can remember

[@FEARYOYOYO]

Make him😂

[@cartereducation1]

The FIA is now the FIFA of motorsports

[@tobbsnobb1366]

Obviously, they are both the governing body of the respective sports

[@dudetimess]

equally bad but FIA is a worse president

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

Always has been, tbf

[@Timi7272]

In my opinion, Fifa is much much worse and more evil.

[@soundscape26]

They have the same role yes. Only the sport is different.

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

Here's me with crippling imposter syndrome, panicking all the time in my job that I dont know what I'm doing even though I'm ludicrously overqualified. And theres Ben Sulayem, walking in every day brimming with confidence that he's doing a brilliant job.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

He's got the working equivalent of Dunning Kruger...

[@davidbennettracing538]

He’s running the FIA in a very Saudi way. Secret, elitist, impervious to those deemed lesser than him…

[@nickz4993]

Funny because he's from the UAE

[@DB5652-v3r]

the pot calling the kettle black

[@soundscape26]

@@nickz4993 True but the mindset isn't that different

[@guybeingaguy]

They launder money now. Are you that naive?

[@The_ZeroLine]

He’s Emirati, but forgivable mistake since little MBS acts big MBS.

[@86themadhatter27]

At this point in F1, it feels like the race director has the least amount of say in what happens in the race. And i guess if they don't like that then they'll find someone else.

[@samiraperi467]

MBS acts like a brat who has never been denied anything.

[@AZBCDE]

You are acting like a crybaby

[@jstoli996c4s]

@@AZBCDEwow you sure told him 🤡

[@Idkwhothisiss8]

Since his father is very close to the ruling family of UAE, it’s not very surprising that he probably been spoiled his whole life and acts this way right now

[@junkiexl86]

Well, he is a TH

[@The_ZeroLine]

Because he is/was. Every wealthy Emirati was born wealthy with a big allowance from the state aka monarchy as a member of the royal family (the 500th cousin qualifies and there are tens of thousands of them getting millions per year).

[@davids8127]

Would like to see a report on Ben Sulayem, why is he in his position and why wont they remove him. This guy has so much influence I would like to know how.

[@petermadach]

guess it has to do with pieces of paper with peoples faces on them (usually green colored)

[@kellywilliams6403]

Yes, please

[@steveluth3139]

oil dollars

[@tobbsnobb1366]

The easy answer as to why he got the position is down to decades of work in the organization and as an athlete in motorsport. I remember he did some rally stints in the early 2000s. Jead Todt left his post and i guess at the time the majority thought MBS made a good candidate for his replacement, maybe they have doubts about their choices today. If its like many other organizations you either resign, wait till a new election or be re evaluated after someone has reported an issue in leadership, seeing as many are leaving the FIA its a possibility that ousting Ben has been difficult.

[@ClinicalDecisionYikesYT]

As usual, brain dead DTS fans coming in with no knowledge. Do you know who Jean Todt is? Do you know anything apart from Danny Ric?

[@TonyEmond]

That mirror was on the track on the start/finish straight and it just sat there for EIGHT MINUTES. Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot.

[@guybeingaguy]

Racing is secondary to laundering money don’t ‘cha know.

[@The_ZeroLine]

They could have grabbed in 10 seconds even without an SC. It’s that standard lack of common sense when an organization tries to make everything complicated.

[@bobtuiliga8691]

Something that needs to be clear is that the biggest risk of the debris sitting there was not someone running over it and creating more debris and affecting the race, it was someone running over it and sending it into the cockpit of someone behind

[@unthenner5519]

Exactly. You're literally the first person I've seen/heard mention what I've been thinking all along. This immediately seemed like the most obvious danger. Also a sudden tyre deflation could've been bad on one of those 200mph right-handers.

[@ange1098]

Yes this has happened in the past, I believe it was a bolt or something that flew up and hit the driver behind

[@oldmanstumpie1061]

I’m also surprised the teams didn’t tell every driver.

[@JiuJitsuLife-xr8kb]

Mohammed Ben Sulayem has got to go.

[@AZBCDE]

You have to stop crying like a crybaby

[@AZBCDE]

You have to stop crying like a crybaby

[@AnomalousOne1401]

Hey, Hey! Hoe, Hoe!

[@Howmihay]

There is either a safety issue to deal with or there is not. Putting everyone at risk whilst pondering how dealing with it will impact on the entertainment is infuriating.

[@otterplays8156]

Take a drink everytime Ben blinks: Sober

[@TheHarrie93]

Dang, now I can't unsee it

[@DB5652-v3r]

he doesnt drink and then beats his wife like your mom was beaten 😂😂😂😂

[@goodhorsehymn]

Scary isn't it?!

[@DB5652-v3r]

@@goodhorsehymn no its not it just exposes your hubris and arrogance. Cooking fantasies in your head seek mental help

[@AntoniusTyas]

Would be so funny if the entire F1 paddock decided to not appear at Abu Dhabi this weekend. Or how about all the drivers doing 2 formation laps before entering the paddock and went off and, I don't know, have some dinner instead of racing at Abu Dhabi? That would be fun for Bin Sulayem. Him being absolutely humiliated in his home turf.

[@jimyed]

Classic case of sports executives thinking they are more important than the product on the field or track in this case. NOBODY watches F1 because MBS is FIA president. In a perfect world we wouldn't really hear from him or anyone else at the FIA because things are going well.

[@davidjones5223]

that is why mostly when Max M was in charge - you knew who he was to tweak rules, but never came over as tonka like this guy. Who thinks his shit doesn't stink

[@DanielArnolf]

Mohammed Ben Sulayem reflects cultural discrepancies impossible to bridge.

[@lando1071]

The FIA needs F1 more than F1 needs the FIA. F1 is large enough to kick the FIA to the curb.

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

You'd be surprised how many types of motorsports are FIA governed. The FIA would probably survive (unless those other motorsports agreed to work with F1 to overturn it), and F1 wouldn't be allowed to race at FIA sanctioned tracks. That's all of the top class ones.

[@butwhytharum]

​@@y_fam_goeglydyou do realize that "fia sanctioned tracks" just mean they meet a certain standard according to the fia...

[@jirwin32]

​@@y_fam_goeglydI believe F1 contributes about 60% of FIA budget last time I heard and MBS spent his time trying to shake more money out of F1. So if F1 leaves then FIA or beyond screwed, only thing holding FOM back is FIA legally hold rights to F1 championships which are leased to FOM. So to break away FOM need to get name and championships rights off FIA in a way not to trigger EU getting involved on FIA side or have to reband F1 to something else.

[@doghat1619]

@@y_fam_goeglyd FIA sanctioned tracks means the FIA approve of the track, not that they own it. The tracks are privately owned and would be more than happy to let F1 race there in exchange for more favourable terms than they currently get.

[@michaelkpate]

Safety should be the priority. Period.

[@RogerM88]

After qualifying: "FIA was too harsh with Max". Meanwhile after the race... FIA: "Hold my penalty notebook".

[@beatsofeden]

Even the newest Netflix f1 fan knew a safety car has to be deployed!!!

[@GARBO96]

He's literally just being a dictator removing people who talk against his ideas hiring his friends or supporters who would've thought somebody from a Middle Eastern regime is doing their government style in the FIA

[@hyosang82]

I guess MBS doesn't want to be clear of where the drivers' fines go because a big chunk of them probably go into his pockets.

[@tiagoabrantes1972]

MBS is ruining F1.

[@Andy_ATB]

Good, I hope he ruins it even more.........

[@junkiexl86]

FIA in general is ruining it. Its only a matter of time before F1 cuts their losses and moves on.

[@rossdark713]

I have been a manager at a business with 20 employees and in some cases, the rules are black and white with now wiggle room, but in other cases, things are not so black and white. It is in these cases, were you have to talk about the problem and hear their side to that problem. Just because you are at the top of the tree, doesn't mean that all of the companie's answers are correct of best prcatices. Hearing other sides gives the company input which may allow it to adjust and take on better practices. This is how companies grow and stay relievent in their chosen industry. The FIA is clearly bigger than the company I worked for, but those at the top have to listen to all of those around them to be effective. Can you imagine if car companies didn't adopt Henry Ford's production line system, because they thought they had the answers and best practices. MBS needs to listen from the top down like everyone in the FIA. It;s just common sense and smart business practices.

[@keio5274]

Japan 2011 had a similar level of debris on track between 130r and the last chicane and Charley whiting brought out a full sc for that with no consequence. We don't have Charley whiting anymore, but learn from the standard set by him!

[@benbradbury3665]

The sooner the GPDA boycotts a race the better…

[@Redskies453]

Yeah but George Russell is a certified brown noser. He'd have nothing to do with it.

[@theGoogol]

MBS is a sign FIA is open minded towards corruption

[@skygod1067]

Just following on from Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone then

[@theGoogol]

@skygod1067 : Alright, let me rephrase: MBS is a sign that FIA is open to openly show they're corrupt. It's a sign of the times, really. Just like how the US got their next president.

[@EG30_Australia]

With the way the FIA is structured, namely the way the president is being elected every 4 years one can understand why Mr Sulayem can get away with acting like a Tsar. Between the Asia Pacific zone and the middle eastern zone ASNs there are some 74 votes and the Asian zone in particular tend to be united and vote as one so unless there is another candidate these 2 zones/regions prefer more than Mr Sulayem that's a lot of safe votes for him to continue his reign should he choose. It's not difficult to understand why he can openly tell the teams and drivers to GF'd if they don't like his style of running the show, as he knows the only people he needs to please are the members who are eligible to vote for him as mentioned by Scott in this episode.

[@zlm001]

This is one of the rare instances where someone is so ridiculously incompetent and negligent that I feel like I’d do a better job than Mohammed ben Sulayem if I stepped into the role tomorrow.

[@_Ben4810]

Does Formula 1 even need the FIA...??? F1 can easily self-govern, self-regulate & organise itself as a travelling global race series... Perhaps Liberty needs to remind FIA of this & re-read & evaluate just how water-tight the 99 year Bernie/Max contract is...?!? 🤔🤔🤔

[@y_fam_goeglyd]

They wouldn't be able to race on FIA class 1 tracks (or any class for that matter). It's happened before, more than once, when the teams threatened to leave the FIA. The FIA told the various tracks that if they hosted the breakaway F1, they wouldn't allow them to hold any FIA sanctioned events. Given that outside the USA the majority of tracks that hold anything more than very local banger racing or similar level events are FIA governed, it would put them out of business virtually overnight.

[@jirwin32]

​@@y_fam_goeglydsounds like an anti competion issue, but not something that lot of tracks that finding it hard to function would want to be in the middle of. As by time the EU or local regulation outside of dictatorship got round to punishing FIA the damage would be done. As if FIA pulled technical assistance and not provide stewards to them local minor series would cause major issues right away.

[@TMJ32]

I dont get why every time theres a safety car its like the're trying to figure out what to do for the first time. How is it not automatic. "Debris on the track in sector 1, deploy the safety car. Lapped cars to overtake in sectors 2 & 3 only". As soon as the track is clear "Safety car in this lap". Whats so hard about this.

[@biggallcaps]

"I would like to cast a vote of no confidence in chanselo- I mean, FIA president Ben Salami."

[@bigmaryhelen]

What was hard about removing that mirror from the track? Just throw a VSC when there's the biggest gap after getting all the teams to warn their drivers that marshalls will be on track on the straight, then wave double yellows at that part of the track. Sorted.

[@51madmitch]

I wish Ross Brawn would put his name up for the FIA president, MBS needs to go, so confrontational and aggressive, unnecessarily so.

[@LordSaliss]

The FIA "justification" about needing a full safety car due to cleanup time is complete BS considering they could have went and picked up the single piece of debris in a few seconds under VSC BEFORE it was run over

[@Heisenberg_747]

Bottas the goat 🐐 started a chaos when he knocked that mirror

[@markjmacrae]

You're far too kind to Michael Masi - don't forget how he sent the cars out behind the safety car in Spa resulting in points effectively being awarded for qualifying. He was a disgrace.

[@tonisiret5557]

He was bought & paid for.

[@Stryker_-qd4nq]

It also took him nearly a full lap at baku to decide that a car parked sideways across the start/finish straight is in fact worthy of a safety car

[@davidjones5223]

well look at the Norris decision everyone said a 10 sec stop - in 3 laps was clearly impacting the race to benefit teams like RB and others over McClaren, but waiting to near end of the race to screw McClaren as much as it can. Yes, he didn't lift off, but how many didn't also do this and when no one was out on track, Max V cries on Radio and RB talks to FIA and magically thrown an over heavy penalty - benefiting RBS , Ferrari unfairly - rather than allow McClaren to pick up the points for the positions they did hold.

[@doghat1619]

That's... how the rules were written though. People blame Masi for the unenviable task of simply applying the rules and regulations, and the teams agreements to a race weekend. What other options did he have? Cancel the race entirely? Awful situation for the Venue to be in, having to refund all those tickets, whilst F1 has made it's profit. And really bad for the teams, at least half of which would argue against it. Williams for example would be very against cancelling the race, their driver was in P2, that's points for them. Half points was fine, it was the best solution to the issue and didn't affect anyone's championships in the end. Really, the issue with wet races is that the cars are too big and heavy, the wet tyres kick up too much spray and too many tracks have standing water issues.

[@RhomasTotevenaar]

​@@davidjones5223that penalty was the most consistent decision this weekend.

[@globofoxfan2cs124]

If this gets worse, something similar to the indycar split might happen to F1.

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

Bring back FISA-FOCA war

[@gchampi2]

Easiest way to cause a big change @ the FIA, would be for the GPDA drivers to go home for the week, then send a message saying "Sorry, not racing this weekend. Safety concerns, due to the mismanagement of Ben Sillyman."

[@Darko_Milosevski03]

Mahaveer Raghunathan would make a better FIA president

[@51madmitch]

Haven’t heard about the transparency requirements over where the money from drivers and teams fines go to, we would hope helping young drivers or a charity.

[@mattalford389]

They need to vote Ben Sulayem out next time. But in the meantime Formula 1 needs to work it's hardest to talk Gerhard Berger into running for the FIA Presidency. In my 40 years plus of following Formula 1, I've never heard anybody talk as sensible about the sport, and everything Berger had foreseen, has come to fruition. He's reasonable, he would understand the drivers so well. And he's had recent experience. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't do it, but i can't think of anyone better

[@brianvogt8125]

To know what Mohammed Ben Sulayem means when he says "strong leadership", you need to understand the UAE political system in which he grew up. From Wikipedia: The United Arab Emirates is an authoritarian federal monarchy. According to the New York Times, the UAE is "an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state".

[@duncanmccrae422]

Bring back Michael Massi!

[@randy9286]

I really hope this is the last season of MBS… tbh they should have given the FIA a 30 sec Stop/Go Penalty for those horrible decisions not bringing in the safetycar and risking 2 punctures

[@metriczeppelin]

TOO much drama...MBS should go to NASCAR and leave F1 alone!

[@serenawatkins6875]

Unless there are changes at the FIA, MBS goes and dreadful decision making processes cease, I wonder if we’ll see the F1 teams think about breaking away from the FIA and set up their own series. It nearly happened around a decade or so ago.

[@MichaelCoIIins]

Its not a silver bullet, But they need to have a Director racing or Director F1 instead of the presses of the FIA. Like mentioned in the clip, if 2/3 of his core business is something else then have a dedicated experienced stable director take over the day to day stuff and have MBS just do what he is hired for runt the FIA.

[@lasersailor6684]

As a CEO who sits on several boards, I smell an incompetent leader who doesn’t measure up to the task. He’s losing his credibility and he’s going to get replaced and if he doesn’t, the FAI and F1 will suffer.

[@digitalcasio2704]

The penalty decisions made at Qatar have raised my suspicions for taking the constructors championship to the last race. The yellow flag was shown to have gone up and come down again a few times before the safety car call. The timing screen got confused. Anyone else notice that?.

[@GaryWagers]

That was a very awkward way to shoehorn the advertising in, but... you know what, I was fooled for a good minute and a half into thinking that we were still on the video topic, so I'll give you credit where credit's due.

[@Thevuerr]

Very strange that people get fired before 2 races and mow penalties are flying around very suspicious

[@jasepaul91]

MBS has to go. His position is beyond untenable

[@rodrigomoraes7633]

The new Jean-Marie Balestre

[@rishabh3150]

Bin Sulayam to F1 is what Vince McMahon was to WWE..

[@renatatostada3318]

Im gonna say it: Michael Massi did nothing wrong JOKING aside, MBS needs to go. He's the worst part of F1 right now, and it's not even close.

[@YacamanRacing]

Why isn't anybody talking about the asymmetrical braking that Max had all 2023 season and in 2024 until his drop? It's quite clear THAT WAS THE ADVANTAGE THAT PUT HIM OVER THE TOP.

[@MsZeeZed]

11:45 - this statement smacks of absent leadership, when a disinterested autocrat leaves his subordinates hanging in the wind with the World Press. If the FIA had shareholders & a board of directors, MBS would not remain as President in 2025.

[@Marv69Marv]

3:03 - totally agree, safety decisions shouldn’t be influenced by “how will it impact the race”. If there is a safety need, then the need should be met. If that involves a full safety car and it bunches up the field then so be it. It’d be interesting to know how this sort of decision would’ve been made at the start of the season, when there’s less championship drama…if the FIA prioritises good racing over safety, then there’s only a matter of time until something terrible happens

[@lukiffer]

The best part of this video is Lawson giving Alonso the stare down 1:20.

[@piersdenney]

You know it’s bad when someone says “I’m glad the races are almost over”… Wow.

[@piersdenney]

For The Race’s sake i hope the press passes aren’t controlled by the FIA

[@Waitin4_a_Mate]

Rocket powered mohawk for FIA director.

[@HanMedSkjegget]

I remember thinking the moment we saw the mirror on the track this is 100% a VSC/SC for go get that, and when Bottas ran over it I went straight to red flag just in case the carbon shards damaged the tyres. caring about how a safety call affects the race makes no sense at all when the FIA claim they put safety above all else

[@soundscape26]

After the mirror was smashed a regular Safety Car was enough because they had the option to go through the pits thus bypassing the debris

[@HanMedSkjegget]

@@soundscape26 true, but in my mind all those carbon shards would cause, and they did cause, punctures. That is why i was thinking red flag, to give everyone a chance to change their tyres just in case.

[@iBoss818]

Ben was genuinely getting concerned there 😂

[@cloudfive53]

Anybody with a child's fishing net could have retrieved that mirror on the track.

[@fragdude]

There is strong leadership and there is strong leadership. One is a leader whose decisions are opinions are unchangeable and immovable regardless of the outcome. The other is a leader that tries to make the organization better using all the resources and qualified people available to them to best fit the needs of the stakeholders. Same words different meaning.

[@nicancelin3714]

MBS is the issue

[@tompreuss6939]

Serious question: Has Mohammed Ben Sulayem ever done anything good for the sport?

[@renatatostada3318]

ALMOST: he ALMOST got another team on the grid. But he couldn't even do that right

[@asterixdogmatix1073]

He got rid of drivers wearing jewelry and made them wear fire complaint underwear. Plus gets his face on TV at the end of each race. What a CV!

[@Shambley1]

I dont agree with them thinking a vsc wasnt enough to clear the debris. Maybe after you left it on track and let someone explode it into a million pieces but there was most definitely a gap big enough for someone to run out and grab that mirror. That vsc would have lasted all of 30 seconds at most.

[@RDGamer321]

Edd Straw talking about the race director role being so massively politicized is a big deal. In 95% of motorsports, the race director is completely anonymous to the public eye. There is no public pressure of backlash or being harassed for influencing a race based solely on a safety call. However, ever since what happened in 2021, it seems like we always know who the race director is on any given race week and that pressure could be hanging over their heads when making calls, knowing what they do could get them backlash from teams, drivers, and even fans.

[@bran170]

I'd never tought i say it but i miss good old bernie

[@doxydoxdelamanca9902]

@:35 has to be the fastest 'yes' I've ever heard. I don't think the question mark accent had come to end when the unequivocally 'yes' sounded.

[@daniwalmsley611]

3:36 I disagree, Double yellows means no overtaking, nobody should have been off the racing line. Bottas moved over because of blue flags but he had no obligation to and arguably shouldn't have bc of the double yellows Given this I see no issue with double yellows until there is gap big enough for a vsc from a safety perspective From a sporting perspective I disagree. Yes we lose out on the pit stop drama but we also gain 10 laps of racing with no overtaking opportunities and gain a safety car restart and it wouldn't have altered russels poor strategy

[@kekkonenprkl]

VSC would have been enough when the mirror was still in one piece. Would have affected and neutralized the race for less than a lap. The mirror was in an easy place, almost perfectly at the end of the pitwall and off line. Pick up the mirror and swiftly back off behind the wall again, while everyone is driving to a slow delta in perfect track conditions. Similar debris removals have been done under VSC before from much harder to access places, where a marshall has had to jump/climb over a wall etc. But because the situation was allowed to escalate for a few laps to a point where someone hit the mirror and shattered it in million pieces, a full SC was eventually the only option. But even then it was delayed for a couple more laps. Even the punctures didn't trigger an immediate SC. The SC only came out once those cars with punctures had limped back to the pits. The race director was way too scared to hit the VSC button and even when the track was already under chaos, he was still hesitating to hit the SC button. I guess he was hoping he could wave yellow flags until the end of the race or the mirror would just teleport itself off the track.

[@AZBCDE]

Wish F1 would just go back to the 90s regulations a time when F1 wasn’t over regulated

[@romantolstykh7488]

Everything I hear controversy about this guy I like him more and more. He just doesn't give an eff about what others thunk. Power to thr man. Love it

[@abdulhadikabbani2289]

No one talks about it but let be all honest the best races of the year are the races that are most chaotic and mismanaged

[@luckylanno]

I think race stewardship should be a matter of safety first. Debris on track is a serious safety issue and should have been resolved immediately. The teams can deal with the whatever impact that has on the competition.

[@WalkingESO]

We would know that BMS is acting out as the President of FIA if he was doing what his job description said he is supposed to do. Meeting with FIA member states automobile federations, seeking to improve car safety, working on reducing accidents on the roads. Being there in the paddock of one specific FIA sanctioned championship and handing out medal on the podium is one of his work descriptions too, but a very small and insignificant one, one that someone else could do. We'll know BMS is doing his job when he is NOT at an F1 weekend.

[@ajrichar0]

What is morale like inside the organisation at the working level? What is the feedback that Scott and Ed are getting from their contacts in the FIA on MBS' rule?

[@lagautmd]

Is it possible that this is a consequence of the season being too long? Everyone is just tired, fuses are short, mental capacity is tapped.

[@MolepaMashala]

So are you telling me the best solution if the VSC wasn't the right one was to continue racing with debris on the track, by the way, in a part of a track where it's the best overtaking area. Just disgusting.

[@bmxer4ever]

VSC when the mirror fell off - simple. 1 marshall runs out and picks up 1 item. How hard was that to comprehend? Even a newbie could see that was the solution.

[@blauekits7782]

16:40 I disagree respectfully, F1 has enough resources to invest in a Control Centre with enthusiastic & competent personnel to manage the Grand Prix. If they can develop entire race venues like they did in Las Vegas then this should be easy in comparison.

[@blauekits7782]

Therefore ditch the FiA. Too much politics in a Task that should be straightfoward and unbiased.

[@olympia019]

If Ben Sulayem wants to rule the FIA as if he was in an ivory tower, let him stay in his ivory tower. Don't come down to the pitlane before and after the race to be the first to shake the winners hand in front of the cameras. Piastri made quite the statement post-race in pitlane and completely ignored the guy. He litteraly swatted his hand away. (Be ready for Piastri grid penalty in Abu Dhabi)

[@equalenergy]

A publicly available balance sheet would be a good idea.

[@Playmaur]

The management of Albom's car fallen mirror on the main straight wasn't only dismal. Most people watching the race did notice the amount of race control indecision when switching the green flag/yellow flag signs on screen several times, while no action was taken to remove the mirror from the track. It was truly laughable. Punishing Norris later was just the topping on the cake. The conclusion that the penalty was simply ordered to spice up the WCC, leaving it up for grasp at the last race of the season was only too obvious for most fans to ignore.

[@tHebUm18]

If the race director thought on their toes, give everyone a drive thru penalty that must be run on a particular lap and let marshals go grab the mirror with no cars going down the main straight.

[@davidnoels2586]

great content 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@urbanstrencan]

FIA leadership is showing it's cracks and big problems inside it. Great video guys

[@mattheusch6405]

Video idea: can F1 exist without the FIA, what is stopping them creating a new regulatory body and self-governing?

[@steve223422]

F1 needs to create their own leadership to run the sport, get rid of the FIA.

[@ewokYT117]

Only a Masi miracle can save F1 now, bring him back. Everyone loved his dry Austrian sense of humour. Come on guys, if Riccardo and Alonso can return to F1, then Micheal Masi should be welcomed back with open arms.

[@zulubunsen9067]

The very first point in the "explainer" is just immediately BS. The debris wasn't on the racing line, but only if you don't take overtakes into account. In a DRS zone. C'mon man, do better than this.