See highlights from the race in Miami
MONTMELÓ (Ekstra Bladet): The controversial end to the 2021 season meant that race director Michael Masi was replaced by three others: Niels Wittich or Eduardo Freitas alternately as boss with 73-year-old Herbie Blash as permanent senior adviser.
He was the assistant Charlie Whiting’s assistant in the control room.
Superstar Fernando Alonso is not a fan of the new system – to say the least.
After an episode two weeks ago, the double world champion shoots sharply at especially Niels Wittich, whom he indirectly calls incompetent with no sense of racing.
At the Miami International Autodrome, Alpine’s Spaniard finished eighth, finishing ninth due to a clash with Pierre Gasly.
Subsequently, however, he received a five-second penalty, which demoted him to 11th place for taking advantage of being off the field on the penultimate lap.
The team was already furious in the United States; they claimed that Alonso had subsequently backed off.
In Barcelona, the Spaniard showed up with a sharp tongue.
– It was unfair, or we think it was very unfair. It was just incompetence from stewards. In Miami, they were not very professional. I missed a turn and I gave the time back, Alonso says.
– They made a decision without asking for evidence. We arrived after the race with all the evidence of all the time we had given back and they were about to pack up. They were not even in the room.
– They said ‘give us five minutes’, but probably they felt bound because the punishment had already been issued. And they did not know how to get back from it. It was very bad. It’s already past, but it honestly should not happen in Formula 1 with the professionalism and Formula 1’s current standard.
Fernando Alonso answered succinctly ‘no’ to whether the new system – even assisted by a kind of VAR – was an improvement over last season.
– Much still needs to be improved, he continues.
– I mean, you need to know something about racing before you can be a race director or oversee a race. I do not think there is enough knowledge in place right now, says Alonso with direct reference to Niels Wittich, who comes from standard German cars.
– Here’s another boss. I think Freitas has a lot more experience, from the WEC and other categories. But he was not … Alonso interrupts himself and continues:
– With the accidents we saw in Miami with Carlos and Esteban – we drivers pushed to get some more tire barriers or TecPro, but no one did anything. When you do not have that knowledge of racing, it is difficult to talk together, thunders the Spaniard.
Kevin Magnussen was somewhat more subdued when Ekstra Bladet asked him to comment on Alonso’s outburst.
– It does not make sense to talk to you first. There are thoughts among the drivers about how we can improve some things, and then we communicate it further to the FIA, he says.