Though his name was not mentioned, the FIA overhaul which sees Michael Masi lose his job as F1 race director, has left Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff encouraged.

With Lewis Hamilton making clear that he never actually said he was considering leaving the sport, fans and the media were left a little confused this morning and began to wonder if much of what has happened since Abu Dhabi was in their imagination... then again, that's what happens if you rely on the tabloids for your news.

One of the key aspects of the last couple of months has been the role of the race director, Michael Masi, and while nobody publicly called for the Australian to be fired that is exactly what the tabloids and some F1 sites were claiming.

Today, less than 24 hours after the Australian was effectively thrown under the bus, there were no grins of obvious satisfaction from the Mercedes squad, however, referring to Mohammed Ben Sulayem's announcement that the system is to be overhauled, Toto Wolff admitted that he found the move "encouraging".

"I think it's very encouraging to see that action has been taken," he said. "There's a much more robust structure now and 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," he continued. "The new guys are going to be in place for the Barcelona test."

With Ben Sulayem only announcing the overhaul of the refereeing process yesterday, just three days after the F1 Commission promised an analysis and action plan, sceptics would be forgiven that his proposals appear to be quite advanced for such a brief timeframe.

In the subsequent online press conference Wolff was critical of what he termed "freestyle" interpretation of the rules, however we dismissed talk that the result of the Abu Dhabi race was 'fixed'.

"I believe that the last couple of years we have seen a little bit of freestyle in the interpretation of the regulations," he said, "so I am happy with what has been implemented by the incoming president.

"Nothing is fixed," he said of the result. "I think it was just the circumstances and decisions that were unprecedented and how they came about, certainly for us was a shock.

"Three laps to the end we got a message that the cars were not allowed to un-lap themselves and three minutes later, four minutes later, suddenly there's two messages that came out of nowhere. Now obviously we know what happened in the background, unknown to us, and then the championship was gone within literally half a minute of decision-making process. That's unprecedented."

Asked about media claims that Mercedes would not launch an appeal provided Masi was sacked, the Austrian replied: "Dropping the appeal being linked to anyone leaving the FIA is not true," he said. "I don't know where that comes from. (Ed - try The Express… The Mail...)

"I think that's in the past," he continued, "and with the measures that were announced yesterday by Mohammed, I think we need to put it aside. We are not going to forget it because that's simply not possible."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by jcr, 21/02/2022 13:19

"To The Editor
Just read the newsletter. Great to see We are on the same wavelength.
Zipped up the back, I like it !
In latest print, Sir Hammi says He contacted Latiffi to supported him re the trolling
(during his media blackout)
At this stage can We honestly believe anything from Toto or Sir Hammi ?
He seems oblivious to the fact that it is his fans who are behind all the trolling,

Still waiting for Ben Sulayems Sanction for Sir Hammis No Show at the ball ??
"

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2. Posted by jcr, 19/02/2022 17:08

"Have to say Toto has excelled himself this time, in what used to be called RonSpeak,
Nowadays its just called B,,L- S,,T
While I agree that the tabloids had a field day, Thats what they do, but at no time did Toto, Sir Hammi, or anyone else from Merc come out and deny anything about the pressure being put on the FIA.
They just let the tabloids do it.
It Was Not Me Sir !!
Does anybody really believe that Sir Hammi came out of hiding and full of the joys of life,
Just as the Massi decision was being announced.
Coincidence ???"

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3. Posted by Stitch431, 18/02/2022 13:22

"Disgusting. the FIA has succumbed to the pressure of Mercedes. Now they (Mercedes) have a race director coming from the DTM, the place where Mercedes already had way too much influence ... NOT GOOD!
Bye, bye to fair racing ..."

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4. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 18/02/2022 12:39

"“Encouraging” ….. well that’s one adjective I was not expecting."

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Wolff finds FIA 'refereeing' move "encouraging"

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