While Formula 1 cleans up the mess from the fallout of the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Michael Masi possibly set up to be the fall guy, Portugal’s Eduardo Freitas has emerged top of the list to become the new Formula 1 Race Director.
Motorsport fans, who delve beyond F1, will know Freitas as the no-nonsense WEC Race Director who is often heard taking control of proceedings when they go awry. He has gained respect and admiration for the cool, unflustered but stern manner in which he directs races.
For some time now (even before the self-induced nightmare of officiating that befell the sport at Yas Marina finale) Freitas was being bandied about as the man for the top job.
So much so, there is even an (unofficial) petition on change.org lobbying to have the motorsport veteran be Race Director in place of the under-fire Masi.
Bradley Philpot justified the petition: “After an unprecedented season of inconsistent and extremely questionable stewards’ decisions, culminating in the farcical end to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, we are petitioning the organisers of Formula 1 to replace the current race director with well respected and experienced Eduardo Freitas from the WEC.
“Freitas has over 20 years of high-level race director experience and is regarded around the world as a voice of consistency and authority. It is vital that viewer and fan confidence is restored in the policing of F1 races which has been eroded throughout the 2021 season,” concludes the petition.
Meanwhile, in March, the FIA will announce the results of their investigation into the shenanigans on the night of the Abu Dhabi finale. Indeed there is support for Masi within the FIA who don’t want him to be the scapegoat. However, it’s not a given the Australian will be ousted.
Politically, it’s an FIA mess that coincided with the last year of Jean Todt’s tenure as President of the sport’s governing body, leaving it for his successor Mohammed Ben Sulayem to clean up and sort out. He and his team are on the case and will reveal all on March 18.
Nevertheless, the name Freitas keeps popping up no matter who you ask, with some even going as far as suggesting a deal is already done while others report he is not really interested in Masi’s job as F1 Race Director… Time will tell.
Freitas: I used to be a mechanic when I was a teenager
His journey in motorsport has been an adventure in itself, Freitas recalling in an interview with Daily Sportscar: “I used to be a mechanic when I was a teenager. I love two-stroke engines. I still do. And one day a friend of mine said how about a karting engine myself? I said no, it’s four wheels. It’s no fun. Two wheels are nice. Anyway, let’s go and see! Saying no before you taste is a bad idea!
“And what captured me immediately was the fact that the pinion was at the end of the crankshaft, no clutch, no gearbox nothing in between. I said “Wow! This should be fun. That’s how I came in. In September 1979 I went to see the world kart championships (pic above) which was won by Peter Koene, he just beat Ayrton Senna, Kathy Muller was in the race too.
“I went there to buy a chassis, a Zip Shadow 77 from Martin Hines. I saw the whole world championships sitting on the grandstand where you could see the inner part of the karting track, I was right on top of a marshals post and on the Sunday I said to myself, I’m sure it’s much more fun down there than here in the grandstand.
“And on the Monday, I think that was the 24 September 1979, my first job was to dismantle parts of the karting track because it used part of the car track. The main straight and T1 were all built with concrete blocks, like the curbs on the main street. That’s when I got hit by the virus seriously!
During the week at night I was repairing karts, at weekends, I would be a kart mechanic
“If it was a motorcycle race I would be a marshal. That’s how it started. I did everything you can do on the track. From trainee all the way to Post Chief, sector Chief, Chief Track Marshal then Deputy Clerk of the Course and then Clerk of the Course.
“And in 2000 and 2001 we had FIA GT GT (at Estoril) and in February 2002, Jurgen Barth called me and told me there was a vacancy to be Race Director for the ETCC and FIA GT Championship. It was for one year but I thought, better one year than nothing, why not give it a try.
“And so I kicked off, I think, on Sunday 22 April 2002, in Magny Cours, with FIA GT and ETCC (pic above). And then we had the support races we had Formula Renault, Renault Clios, so it was, it was difficult at the time. I had one notebook, and 20 screens in front of me, one telephone to call timing to put messages on the screen. And that was it!”
As for his style when dealing with irate team managers (Toto Wolff and Christian Horner spring to mind!) during the heat of battle, Freitas explained: “Sometimes I need to talk with the team manager to understand what has happened. I don’t like to call in the manager up and say ‘Listen, you’ve got a drive-through because he did this’.
“First, I want to understand why this happened. So basically, it’s giving him to right to a defence, before I make a report to the stewards, and then the penalty will arrive. And sometimes when you talk to the manager, the team manager, sometimes gets surprised ‘He did that!!’
It’s not only us in Race Control that is the team, our way of working is with the teams and drivers
“So this is an open game. They know exactly what conditions we work within, what we have, what information we have. And I think it’s fair to tell them – ‘listen, I have this problem, which is caused by your driver – help me get out of it. How? How did this happen? Why did he do this? Is there anything wrong with the car?’
“And sometimes you see things on the TVs, which in reality are not so much a drivers fault, because he was struggling, he had a wishbone which broke and he’s trying to bring the car back to the pits or something like that. So let’s give him the opportunity to explain his point of view and what just happened.
“It’s like this, we work in a team. It’s not only us in Race Control that are the team, our way of working is to team up with the teams and the drivers. And if we all work together, I think at the end of the day, it’s better for all parties involved.”
Motorsport rule books have always been subject to interpretation, F1 is the epitome of eking out the tiniest of advantages on the car and on track.
“The rule book is quite complex,” continued Freitas, “Some of the rules can take several times of reading to be able to understand what the legislator wants to achieve with it. But the main target and the first thing you always have to see is Safety.
“With safety, you cannot be soft, you cannot say, ‘Okay, let it go’. You have to be very careful. No matter what we do. It’s human beings inside the cars. The cars are expensive, I don’t care! For me, the target is to make sure that on Sunday, everyone goes home – and that’s a good weekend for me. If I lose seven hours afterwards discussing regulations and articles, this I don’t mind as long as they all get home.”
Track limit abuse allows drivers in a certain way to expose themselves to unnecessary risk
Freitas was asked about that hot potato – Track Limits – that were exploited more so than ever before in the Lewis vs Max slugfest of last season, he ventured: “A track is conceived in a way. We put in guardrails, we put in asphalt run-offs and grass, and gravel, we have tyre barriers with inserts and conveyor belts, we have the high-speed barriers.
“All of that is calculated according to the race line and the speeds which are foreseen for that area of the circuit. And if we allow it to be driven beyond what is calculated, at the end of the day, we are allowing the drivers in a certain way to expose themselves to unnecessary risk.
“So there is the sporting part of it, which is a driver may achieve a lap in qualifying, which is done beyond track limits, which technically can be deemed as illegal, whether we saw it or not.
“And then there is the other part, which for me is the most important one, which is the fact that by abusing track limits, you may be doing your race line for which you may be putting yourself (or others) at risk if something goes wrong at that stage. That’s how I see it and that’s why I’m so stiff in my answers on what concerns track limits.
“It is because tracks are built in a certain way for a certain racing line and for a certain kind of impacts. If we go beyond that, then we need to eventually rethink how a barrier has to be built.
Unfortunately, some weekends, we don’t all go home
“Safety is of paramount importance here. The rulebook comes in second, let’s put it like that. Our priority is ensuring that when we say ‘Green flag pit line is open’, that it is safe for the drivers to go out.”
As for the dangers that are part and parcel of every race that happens, Freitas said: “Unfortunately, some weekends, we don’t all go home. And that’s bad, it always leaves you with a feeling of what could I have done?
“What should have I known before this happened? It’s always complicated because it leaves you with a sour taste which lasts, I tell you, it lasts a very long time.
“It’s like this. They know that if I say it’s green, you can go, it’s safe. All of a sudden, it’s not safe. Something went wrong there. It’s not something which I’ve foreseen or whoever calculated the circuit had foreseen. But it’s something which leaves us with a bad taste, even if it’s an accident between two cars where someone gets injured. You always feel ‘what could I have done to avoid this from happening?’, it’s complex.
“So, at the end of the day, we try to understand and the FIA does a tremendous amount of work backstage which is not seen. Which is trying to understand how it happened and why it happened. And what can we do to minimise the consequences if this happens tomorrow again. That’s the target – improving on equipment, improving on the way we look at things. It’s a huge work which is done by a bunch of people who are highly dedicated to it in Geneva.
“They go through an accident, and they totally disassemble the accident to understand how the consequence can be improved. Those people are not known publically.
“It’s backstage work, which is tremendous. It takes hours, sometimes months of going through numbers, graphics and simulations. But thank God, the numbers which we have today are nothing compared to what we had in the 50s, or the 60s.
“The day, the day I feel that I cannot bring anything else into it, that I’m not motivated to try to push further on this principle, that idea, or this equipment to be in place, then I think it’s about time I leave the church, and somebody else comes in with new ideas.”
The problem is Freitas might not want to be F1 Race Director
As for his celebrity status of being the man behind ‘That Voice’ heard calling the shots with authority on WEC broadcasts, Freitas reckoned: “If you’ll allow me this indulgence, I don’t really like my voice. I remember buying a telephone message machine for home.
“I recorded the message and I said: Oh my god!! So I was looking for the right music to put in so you couldn’t hear the voice and I still find it odd when I hear myself be it on TV here or there. It’s a fact that it’s a known voice. And I can’t get away from it.
“The amount of people who asked me to record sentences to put on their mobile phones are beyond what you could imagine. I started out in a modern world where communication is the key. I think it’s important that all the people which are in the boat know exactly what the other people in the boat do.
“Motorsport is such a complex machine, that there is so much going on in the backstage to prepare a six hour race, that we don’t really know exactly how the setup is done, the amount of people involved from the TV crews from the mechanics in the pit lane, the people at the door controlling the passes and the armbands to know if you’re okay to be somewhere, and those right now that are working hard on the COVID controls.
“All that it’s a huge machine which many times are just unnoticed. It only works if everything is in place, if everyone is motivated and doing what they should properly,” concluded Freitas.
Who are the other candidates in line for F1 Race Director?
Others who might be considered for the role of F1 Race Director should Masi be sent packing are:
American Scot Elkins is already deputy F1 race director with Formula E, DTM race director Niels Wittich, Peter Roberts worked as race director in the Porsche Supercup, Colin Haywood an FIA veteran who worked under Charlie Whiting, former team manager of Tyrrell, Benetton, Renault and Ross Brawn confidante Steve Nielsen and, since his sudden departure from Alpine, Marcin Budkowski, who worked for the FIA from 2014 to 2017, is also in the mix