Eduardo Freitas was one of two people picked by the FIA to replace Michael Masi, the other being former DTM race director Niels Wittich.
Follow Us
Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde has fired off a warning to the current Formula 1 drivers about new race director Eduardo Freitas.
According to Van der Garde, Freitas is a ‘strict guy’ for whom ‘rules are rules’. A failure to follow rules will thus simply result in a penalty for a driver.
Freitas was one of two people picked by the FIA to replace Michael Masi, the other being former DTM race director Niels Wittich.
And Van der Garde also believes that Freitas is well suited for the job. “Freitas? He’s a good race director,” Van der Garde said, as quoted by GPFans NL.
“I have known him for a few years. He is a strict guy, rules are rules with him. If you don’t follow them, with him you just get a penalty!”
This will doubtless come as news to the ears of many fans and even drivers alike. But the main sticking point among many will be how consistently rules are applied.
In 2021 in particular, the issue wasn’t that penalties were not imposed; it’s that there was no consistency in the manner they were given out.
Some races saw a certain type of offence get punished with a penalty, while subsequent races would see similar infringements let off without any punishment.
The challenge will be to get it right more often than not and to be consistent while applying the rules.
Perhaps that is why Van der Garde said it was key to put the right people alongside the race director. He even suggested that a former driver be installed as part of the set-up.
The reason? Racing drivers look at things differently, and this is especially true for racing incidents rather than clear-cut cases of wrongdoing.
Also read: Aston Martin F1 team principal Mike Krack bullish about future success
“I think it is also important who will work with him internally at the FIA, who will be his right or left hand,” Van der Garde added.
“I think it is important that there is an ex-driver who will be looking on. Especially with the racing incidents, who did what wrong and who did something wrong.
“A racer looks at things differently than a race director who may have driven a bit, but it was not his job. There has to be a very good combination in there.
“They just need to pick one, two or three drivers every year that they can rotate with. They then have to give their opinion on what is happening on the circuits.”
