Masi sympathy but FIA "know what they are doing" - Albon

Alex Albon has revealed his sympathy for Michael Masi following his repositioning within the FIA but insists the governing body "know what they are doing".

Masi has been replaced as race director for the upcoming season as a consequence of his handling of last year's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where Albon's former team-mate Max Verstappen clinched his maiden F1 title.

The arrivals of Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas, along with the return of Herbie Blash, are all part of wider reform within the structure of the FIA, with a new VAR-style assistance for race direction to also be implemented.

Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel were both recently outspoken in their defence of Masi, with the Red Bull driver, in particular, claiming the Australian had been "thrown under the bus".

Asked for his view, Williams driver Albon replied: “I do sympathise for Michael.

"It’s a very tricky job and especially the consequence of the championship-deciding year, it was always going to be under the spotlight.

"The FIA, they know what they’re doing and the restructure is going to help but I feel like being able to assign multiple things as one person doing a lot of things is always going to be very tricky.

“It’s the right step from the FIA to restructure the whole stewarding of Formula 1 and we will have to see how it all plays out.”

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