FIA in Turmoil! Michael Masi out? WRC, BTCC, Dakar and more! | EP 41

Welcome to Episode 41 of the Lovecars On The Grid podcast! Tiff Needell and Paul Woodman are here with another episode, with a motorsport roundup of events from the past week!   It's been Christmas week, so very quiet from a motorsport front, but still lots to talk about from the FIA with Formula 1 and other sports, too. The FIA seems to be going through an interesting period, after Frenchman, Jean Todt moved on from being in charge of the FIA for 12 years, bringing in Mohammed Ben Sulayem as the new FIA President. Then of course we had the controversy between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the last race of the season at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Furthermore, both Ross Braun and Pat Symonds are leaving Formula 1, who were two figures behind the new, 2022 car. In addition to this, Belgian FIA Rally Director, Yves Matton also quits!   What also doesn't help, is that a petition has been launched on Twitter to get Michael Masi out of the FIA, following his decisions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Should he stay? What do you think? To make matters even worse, Nicolas Latifi, who was the driver that crashed, causing the safety car at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, has been receiving death threats for what happened to Lewis Hamilton following the incident! Of course, Latifi didn't intend to crash!  Paul then gives us some stats on Formula 1 for our Christmas Quiz! Comparing Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton to Fernando Alonso beating Michael Schumacher in 2005. Did you also know that Nikita Mazepin received 234 blue flags in the 2021 season!    World Rally Championship is back on 23rd January, with French Rally driver Sebastian Loeb driving for Ford in the new Puma rally cars. The cars this season will be hybrid for the first time, too, which will make for an interesting season for WRC with 100HP boosts from the hybrid system.    In the British Touring Cars Championship, NAPA Auto Parts are using BTCC as a launch platform for their business in the UK market, which will give BTCC a real boost, allowing drivers to be paid to be full time BTCC drivers, as opposed to drivers using their own sponsors.    As January approaches, we of course look forward to the Dakar rally, that starts on 1st January. With nearly 500 different vehicles taking part, from buggies, motorbikes, trucks and cars, with just 1000 people taking part and just 10 British people taking part!    That's it for our podcasts for this year! Thank you to everyone who has supported us and may we wish you a very Happy New Year!