Formula 1 race director Michael Masi was removed from his post on Thursday in the wake of the controversial end to the F1 World Championship last season.

Masi’s removal was part of a series of changes announced by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of the sport.

FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem announced that Masi would be “offered a new position within the FIA,” and that two people will alternate as the race director for the 2022 F1 season, with additional help provided by officials.

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Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, the former race directors of the World Endurance Championship and the DTM German Touring Car Championship respectively, have been appointed as the new race directors for the upcoming season.

In addition to the appointment of new race directors, the FIA also announced a slew of changes to F1 rules for the upcoming season.

This time around, teams will be able to put their questions to race control as per “well defined procedures” and a new layer of staff will be added to handle said questions to keep pressure off the race director.

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The full list of changes announced by FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem can be seen below:

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Masi, who assumed the role of race director in 2019 following the death of his predecessor Charlie Whiting, came under scrutiny at the end of last season in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for failing to correctly apply extant rules governing the management of lapped cars and the timing of the restart.

The 44-year-old was put under pressure by both Red Bull and Mercedes to rule in their favour in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and Masi appeared to act on Red Bull’s suggestions, giving Max Verstappen his first world title, while denying Sir Lewis Hamilton his eighth, which would have seen the Britisher surpass F1 great Michael Schumacher.

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Hamilton’s loss in the 2021 F1 World Championship left the seven-time champion “disillusioned” and shook his faith in the FIA, as per Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. Subsequently, Hamilton refused to commit to a return to F1 in the 2022 season prior to seeing the FIA’s response to the controversy.

With the FIA’s new decisions effectively signalling an admission of a mistake, Hamilton may well return to pursue a record eighth title. The 37-year-old is slated to speak publicly for the first time on Friday, when Mercedes unveil their new car for the 2022 season.