"The FIA confirms that Michael Masi has decided to leave the FIA and return to Australia to be closer to his family and take on new challenges," said the Federation in a press release, where it thanks him for his "involvement" during his three years in this position.
The Australian had already been dismissed from his post in February.
In December in Abu Dhabi, he made the decision to restart the race on the last lap, then neutralized behind a safety car, which offered the Dutchman (Red Bull) the opportunity to overtake Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) to s to offer his first title of world champion.
The Briton, who had not changed tires unlike Verstappen, had strongly denounced this decision considering that the race had been "manipulated".
The Mercedes team criticized the 44-year-old Australian race director for not having applied the rules to the letter, but she finally gave up appealing while demanding "measures before the start of the season".
After conducting a "detailed analysis" of the events, the World Automobile Federation (FIA) announced in mid-February the sidelining of Michael Masi.
Two race directors, Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, who officiated in other championships, were appointed to replace him alternately.
The FIA had also announced the establishment of a "virtual race control room", modeled on video refereeing (VAR) in football, and the end of direct radio communications between team managers and race.
"These are good advances," said Wolff after these announcements.
Hamilton, who had "at one point, obviously lost a little faith in the system", had also supported this "first stage of the process" in mid-February while saying that he was waiting to see "concrete actions" to be completely convinced.
© 2022 AFP