The FIA announced how they will fill the three mandatory senior official roles for the Australian Grand Prix. This due the shock death of Charlie Whiting.
The FIA dictates that for every Grand Prix there should be a Race Director, Safety Delegate and Permanent starter appointed by the FIA. Since Charlie Whiting was holding all three positions the FIA now needs to select three new people for the job. The FIA selected Michael Masi as deputy race director for all the position that came free. Michael Masi is a former Supercars official that worked closely with Charlie Whiting on several Grand Prix each year.
Besides his work for the Supercars Michael Masi accepted the role as racing director for the Formula 1, Formula 2 and Formula 3.
In his new role as permanent starter he will be responsible for the lights that signal the start of every Grand Prix. It his his function to make sure the Grand Prix starts on the right time. In his role as Safety Deputy he is responsible for all safety matters including the pitlane speed limit and sending the safety car out. In the final role as Racing Director he oversees the officials and the management of the Grand Prix. This includes the decision to suspend any of the sessions and referring incidents to the race stewards.
Michael Masi was already appointed as one of the two deputy Race Directors for this weekend. At this moment the FIA didn’t appoint anybody for that role. However there is a second deputy for this weekend so maybe the FIA isn’t appointing anybody.
