Breaking:Lewis Hamilton:Toto Wolff to demand ‘sack of race director,Michael Masi from F1 chief Ben Sulayem’

A source told Sportsmail: ‘The Abu Dhabi matter is the first issue on the new president’s agenda. He wants to come up with a response. The deadline is the World Motor Sport

Council meeting on February 3 — but there may be news before then, such is the urgency of this.’

The FIA seems torn on Masi’s fate. It is expected his head will roll, but one of Ben Sulayem’s chief supporters, former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, whose Brazilian wife Fabiana is the first woman to be elected vice-president for sport in South America, told Sportsmail: ‘I see no reason whatsoever why Michael should not continue in his job.

‘He did what he thought what was best. You can say I would do this or that or the other. But it would have been awful if the final race had ended under a safety car. Michael would have got in just as much trouble. He is a good man and the FIA should stick by him.’

It seems likely that Hamilton will race on. He will receive at least £30million a year and he clearly has unfinished business. Tellingly, Mercedes have not drawn up a serious contingency list of replacements.

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