From Yas Marina to Hampton Downs: Michael Masi takes the helm in New Zealand
Four years after his final, fraught night in Formula 1 race control, Michael Masi is returning to the coalface of top-level motorsport — this time on the other side of the world. Motorsport New Zealand has appointed the former FIA race director as event director for the Repco NextGen NZ Championship, handing him responsibility for race officials and operations across the series.
It’s a pragmatic hire with a touch of symbolism. New Zealand’s governing body is pushing to modernise and scale up its national scene in partnership with the NextGen NZ Championship and Toyota Gazoo Racing, and Masi’s brief is clear: sharpen processes and regulations, embed best practice, and raise the standard across the board.
“New Zealand has an abundantly rich and proud heritage in the sport,” Masi said. “I’m very much looking forward to working in partnership with, and supporting MotorSport New Zealand, Toyota New Zealand, and the Repco NextGen NZ Championship to continue building upon and developing the continual improvement of the sport for all participants and stakeholders.”
Deborah Day, president of New Zealand’s ASN — which marks 70 years as an FIA member in 2026 — called the appointment an important step. “Michael’s experience at the highest levels of global motorsport will help us sharpen our systems, elevate our championships, and support our officials,” she said. “His appointment is an important step in our broader strategy to modernise, develop capability, and set the sport up for long-term success.”
Masi will be on the ground from early January, starting at the Allied Petroleum Hampton Downs International on January 9–11, before overseeing a busy stretch that includes the Giltrap Group Historic GP in Taupo, the Ascot Park Hotel Teretonga International, and the NAPA 70th New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands. The New Zealand move comes three months after he stepped down as chairman of the Supercars Commission, a role he’d held since mid-2022.
The obvious context isn’t being airbrushed away. Masi stepped into the most scrutinised job in race control in 2019 after the sudden death of Charlie Whiting at the Australian Grand Prix. He’d been Whiting’s deputy for several years and led the FIA’s race direction team until the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — a finale that ignited a global debate over safety-car procedures, stewarding authority, and the balance between rules and show.
With Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen level on points and the title on the line, a late crash for Nicholas Latifi triggered a Safety Car. Mercedes kept Hamilton out; Red Bull pitted Verstappen. What followed needs little retelling for anyone who watched it live: lapped cars initially told to stay put, then instructed to unlap themselves, and a one-lap dash that Verstappen won on fresher tyres. The FIA’s subsequent investigation found Masi had used “overriding authority” to alter the Safety Car procedure, calling it a “human error” and noting the car was brought in without completing an additional lap as required by Article 48.12. The race should have ended under the Safety Car. It didn’t. The fallout was swift. In February 2022, new FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem confirmed a revamped race management structure and Masi’s exit from the role. The Australian later revealed he’d received death threats amid the toxicity that followed.
So what does this New Zealand chapter look like? Less theatre, more groundwork. The Repco NextGen NZ Championship and its partners are clearly investing in systems — everything from event control discipline to officiating standards and regulatory clarity. That’s where Masi’s scar tissue and experience can be useful. At his best, he was diligent and operationally strong; at his most exposed, he was a single point of failure in a televised powder keg. New Zealand isn’t looking for a TV showrunner. It’s after a builder.
There’s also a wider point here about motorsport’s talent pipeline off the track. For all the noise around 2021, race control is a craft learned in quiet rooms with headsets and flowcharts, not on social media. New Zealand, a country that’s punched above its weight for generations — from McLaren to Amon to a steady stream of juniors — is betting that better scaffolding behind the scenes will keep the ladder sturdy for the next wave.
If Masi delivers what MotorSport New Zealand wants — cleaner weekends, consistent calls, happier officials — the story might shift from what happened in Abu Dhabi to what happens in Invercargill, Taupo, and Highlands. And that would be a different kind of headline for everyone involved.
