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Worth thinking about the amount of time Charlie had in F1 overall.
He'd been doing that job since before a very large number of the people involved in F1 - drivers, mechanics, PR, media, designers, engineers, management etc - were born. On top of that he'd been a mechanic (championship winning chief mechanic!) since 1977, meaning he'd been in F1 longer than most of the participants had been walking the earth.
He was on the inside, from the inside. One of the gang. Poacher turned gamekeeper.
Michael Masi was born in 1979. His first involvement in F1 was as deputy RD to Charlie, a role he did for about a year before Charlie's untimely death. He's been in post for less time than many of the current drivers have been in F1. He came from outside the gang.
A lot of the criticism levelled at him is that he isn't Charlie. Well, no he isn't; nobody is. Nobody *can be*.
If Masi stays around as long as Charlie, perhaps he'll be shown the respect that he should, largely, already be getting. I doubt that will ever happen, sadly, there are too many people gunning for him now.
And if he moved on, who would take the seat? Someone new. Someone untrusted. Someone else who isn't Charlie.
Be careful what you wish for.
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