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Ted Kravitz's harsh words for former F1 former race director Michael Masi contrasted with F1 reporter David Croft's empathy after Masi was seen in the paddock in Australia for the first time in over a year.
As exciting as the race weekend was in Melbourne, there were quite a few faces in the paddock, including Masi. The former FIA race director grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons at the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP. During the race, Masi' decision to restart the race in the last lap led to chaos.
Post that, he was released from the FIA and returned to Australia, where he was appointed the chairman of the Supercars Commission, who were a part of the F1 race weekend in Melbourne, explaining Masi's presence. However, Sky Sports presenter Kravitz wasn't delighted with Masi's presence on the track.
"I don't really ... well, I do want to get into it, you know I do. But I won't. What's he doing in Australia? He's in charge of the V8 Supercars, the Australian Touring Cars now. But what's he doing coming back into the Formula 1 paddock?"
However, Croft felt differently as he sympathised with the Australian.
"No matter what your allegiances were in 2021, you have to remember he's still a human being."
Ted Kravitz addresses rumours regarding Michael Masi's F1 return
Michael Masi was the race director in F1 from 2019 till the end of the 2021 season. After that, a trend of two race directors was introduced for the 2022 season. However, after the Japanese Grand Prix in 2022 saw a lot lot of errors from stewards, F1 reverted to a single race director.
Since then, Neils Wittich has been the race director for races in F1. Interestingly, there have been rumours about Masi making a return to the post after his absence of more than a season. Kravitz, while talking about Masi's presence in the paddock, addressed these rumours:
"There are some rumours that Formula 1 want him back because (current race director) Niels Wittich needs some help on the FIA race direction side. But that's not going to happen. What's Michael Masi doing in the paddock?"
However, from his words, he doesn't seem too delighted about the Australian returning to a post in F1.
