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The FIA has said that it's looking to take a page out of rugby and football in F1 races. That comes as part of the first phase of the governing body's new Race Direction Programme (RDDP) that has been constituted with the aim of streamlining the Race Direction operation in F1 races.
After the 2022 Italian GP, the RDDP debriefed using race footage and data to identify areas where improvement could be made in race operations. The FIA said that learnings have been taken from refereeing procedures used by international sports. The use of Video Assisted Referee (VAR) system, as done in football and rugby, is up for discussion.
Members of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) who provide match officials to the Premier League, English Football League and FA Women’s Super League, will be present at the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP, where VAR use will be a topic of discussion.
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The RDDP is also supposed to lay down the groundwork to develop future race directors and officials. The key objective is to quantify the performance of race direction and stewarding. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said:
“The Race Direction Development Programme is designed to improve our Race Direction operations as part of our ongoing efforts to bring rigour and best practice to the governance of the sport. It also builds on the implementation of the ROC to support our race operations. The programme will also help us identify emerging talent so we can grow our pool of Race Directors, stewards and officials for the future.”
Our Verdict on F1 leveraging technology to improve race direction
On the face of things, it appears to be an impressive initiative taken up by the FIA. The most important thing is that it will attack one of the key pain points when it comes to race operations i.e. the lack of consistency in decision-making.
Although a lot of things need to be set in stone before one can be confident about what's going on, but an initial attempt at training personnel to be race directors is going to be the key.
The two new F1 race directors who have replaced Michael Masi this season have shown inexperience, as they have moved from different sports (while Michael Masi trained under the aegis of Charlie Whiting). The FIA's initiative is impressive, but a lot will depend on the execution.
