Niels Wittich has unexpectedly stood down from his role as Formula 1’s race director.
Rui Marques, previously the Formula 2 and Formula 3 race director, will take over his role from the next round of the world championship in Las Vegas.“The FIA can confirm that Niels Wittich has stepped down from his position as F1 race director to pursue new opportunities,” said the sport’s governing body in a statement.
“Niels has fulfilled his numerous responsibilities as race director with professionalism and dedication. We thank him for his commitment and we wish him the best for the future.”
Wittich first served as race director at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix. He replaced Michael Masi, who was removed from the role after the FIA determined he failed to apply the rules correctly in the previous year’s championship-deciding race.
Throughout 2022 Wittich shared his responsibilities as race director with Eduardo Freitas. Prior to joining F1 Wittich was the race director for Germany’s popular DTM series, while Freitas held the same role in the FIA’s World Endurance Championship.
However from the beginning of 2023 F1 returned to having a single race director, and Wittich occupied the role full-time. His replacement’s first race in charge will be next week.
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“Rui Marques will assume the role of race director from the Las Vegas Grand Prix,” the FIA’s statement continued.
“Rui brings a wealth of experience having previously served as track marshal, scrutineer, national and international steward, deputy race director and race director in various championships. Most recently, he held the position of Formula 2 and Formula 3 race director.”
Marques was previously an FIA co-ordinator and assistant to the race director in the World Touring Car Championship, before it was downgraded to cup status. He was the clerk of the course for F1’s last race in his native Portugal in 2021 and became F2 race director the following year.
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Osnola
12th November 2024, 14:29
So we can have Masi back on time..
Drop Saudi
12th November 2024, 14:38
Love to have Masi back.
anon
12th November 2024, 15:34
Why would you want a race director that was criticised multiple times for endangering the lives of marshals by intentionally rushing through, or ignoring, measures that were meant to protect their safety?
Have you forgotten incidents such as in Imola in 2020, where Masi failed to check that the track was clear before ordering cars to unlap themselves, resulting in near misses as marshals were still clearing the track?
What about qualifying in the Turkish Grand Prix that same year, where he admitted afterwards he hadn’t checked that the recovery vehicles had finished working to recover crashed cars from Q1 and he should not have ordered Q2 to start?
How about the 2019 Monaco GP, where Perez nearly ran over two marshals because there was a complete and total breakdown in communications between race control and the marshals?
Those are just some of the incidents involving breaches of safety regulations that Masi was heavily criticised for, and many felt it was mostly through luck that a marshal didn’t get injured or killed thanks to Masi’s mistakes – he even admitted in some cases that he didn’t follow safety procedures because he was more worried about getting things done quickly, which could be considered as flat out negligent in some jurisdictions.
If Wittich had made half the mistakes that Masi made, you’d be demanding that he was fired – Masi, quite frankly, had the wrong attitude towards the safety and welfare of the marshals that he had a legal duty of care towards and was not fit to hold that role.
SteveP
12th November 2024, 17:50
Needs a shorter sentence in there.
Dave The Drummer (@davethedrummer)
13th November 2024, 9:11
Seconded.
Osnola
13th November 2024, 11:55
According to wittich himself he was fired!
SteveP
13th November 2024, 21:16
He hasn’t said that (from anything I’ve read) but he did, apparently, say that he didn’t resign.
I’m just wondering who has signed him up for an exclusive
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
12th November 2024, 19:32
Ridiculous. He was entirely discredited.
Coventry Climax
12th November 2024, 16:02
I can already hear Alonso: “GP2 race director, GP2 race director!”.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th November 2024, 16:31
Definitely a surprising & unexpected change, especially with the season still ongoing.
I hope this change at least means that not a single DRS activation zone shortening would occur within the remaining existence period, given all these recent past shortenings have occurred during Wittich’s time.
Simon
12th November 2024, 23:44
DRS mention = rolleyes emoji
Jere (@jerejj)
13th November 2024, 7:52
Of course, you.
Mayrton
13th November 2024, 9:56
Not a surprise at all given the unfoldings of the Brasil GP.
Coventry Climax
12th November 2024, 16:31
For your information, regarding the name Rui: In european continental portuguese, the ’r’ is not pronounced like in the english word ’road’. Instead it is an absolutely heavily rolling ’rrrr’, nothing like in the english ’rumble’.
But many can’t voice that, and then you’re fine with the alternative of pronouncing it like a letter ’g’, but a real harsh one, like e.g. the dutch use (a famous dutch swear word starts with it), so nothing like in the english ’good guy’.
So some of you english guys will likely have a pgoblem pgonouncing his name coggectly!
baasbas
12th November 2024, 18:15
Goedemorgen!
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
12th November 2024, 18:23
With all these damn Johnny Foreigners joining in it’s getting hard to spot the real people!
Coventry Climax
13th November 2024, 9:50
Hehe, but who says I’m the foreigner? And isn’’t that just a matter of perspective anyway?
Oh, and I’m just as real as you – and most ;-) – here.
AlexS
13th November 2024, 14:43
Unless i don’t know how to pronounce road, Rui is indeed the same.
SteveP
13th November 2024, 21:22
I think everyone will struggle along using “Marques” much like they used “Wittich” (badly)
AlexS
17th November 2024, 15:17
He is wrong. R of Rui is the same of road.
Coventry Climax
12th November 2024, 16:38
I you refuse to check those drain covers again, you are fired!
More serious: Would be interesting to know on whose initiative he is leaving, but given it is rather ’instant’, my guess is the decision was made for him.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th November 2024, 17:07
Yeah, either something very unpleasant privately or there must be some kind of conflict behind the scenes to have him leave without even finishing the season.
SteveP
12th November 2024, 17:53
Of the possible options for reasons, my money is on the “free and frank exchange of views” with MBS option.
BasCB (@bascb)
12th November 2024, 18:06
Ok, so Joe Saward mentions Austin as the reason for throwing Niels out
BMW P85 V10
12th November 2024, 19:19
The tweet has been removed. Can you elaborate on it’s content?
KaIIe (@kaiie)
12th November 2024, 19:55
“I was told Niels would be fired two weeks ago… so I guess conspiracy theorists should look at Austin for an explanation.”
BasCB (@bascb)
13th November 2024, 7:30
Thanks KaIIe, I did check and the tweet is still up there.
PacificPR (@streydt)
12th November 2024, 19:31
They are probably looking for someone who is willing to create more safety car situations. I bet Vegas demands them.
Ben
12th November 2024, 16:39
Multiple reports suggesting he was sacked. The timing makes no sense to step down given the season is over in 3 weeks. It feels like there’s a much bigger story about to break.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
12th November 2024, 19:47
Indeed McLaren complaint about the red flag during the race.
Mayrton
13th November 2024, 10:00
Well the timings of VSC in the Sprint and red flag in quali were clearly favouring Norris to such extent that it makes it hard to not hold someone responsible.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
12th November 2024, 17:56
I don’t think he was particularly good to be honest.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th November 2024, 18:32
Better than Masi & Freitas at least.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
12th November 2024, 19:29
@jerejj Not last weekend. But on current form, I think the problem is more fundamental than who is race director. It’s almost like the F1 race director isn’t allowed to be competent. (Freitas for has proven to be very good when doing non-F1 race direction, not only before but after his stint. That to me looks like a clue).
MichaelN
13th November 2024, 0:03
Freitas isn’t very good, he’s just very cautious because he runs races that feature 60+ year old amateurs in LMP2 cars that are very fast indeed.
And let’s not forget it was under Freitas’ leadership that Sophia Floersch was T-boned under yellow, and the offending driver got… no penalty at all. That’s an instant ‘exploring new career opportunities’ move. Or should be, anyway.
Freitas is also the guy who oversaw the Le Mans 2023 safety car shuffle fiasco that took about 3 hours out of the first 8 hours of racing. It was so bad the rule was effectively scrapped during the race, and there were no more safety car situations during the rest of the race – even when there were barrier repairs.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th November 2024, 22:24
Penalties are issued by stewards, not race directors. The moment Freitas handed the incident over to the stewards, there was nothing more he could do about it. The Le Mans 2023 safety car shuffle was written into the regulations that year (meaning the race director was obliged to follow it – until it was found to be unsafe, at which point the regulation break would have got Freitas into trouble had it not been proven to be for safety reasons).
Both of your objections indicate that you do not know what a race director actually does.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
12th November 2024, 20:31
The problem with everyone post Charlie Whiting is that they haven’t had the respect of the paddock and therefore haven’t had the authority Charlie had. Additionally they haven’t had the absolute knowledge of the regulations, processes and procedures that Charlie did or at times had the sense to use a bit of common sense to allow a bit of needed leeway.
But then again everyone post Charlie have also had to deal with very different circumstances in terms of been pulled in different directions by those who have a say in how the sport/show is run and ultimately how they want the race director to act in certain situations.
And there’s also other politics which Charlie didn’t have to deal with to the same degree because again Charlie had the respect of the paddock so didn’t have to deal with people sniping at him behind his back and constantly pushing for his removal when a decision was made that goes against them.
Teams didn’t always agree with Charlie if he went against them but they accepted it because again everyone respected him. Post Charlie when any of the RD’s have made a decision thats gone against a team the politics have started because none of them have had the level of respect Charlie did.
MichaelN
12th November 2024, 23:58
Whiting didn’t have respect, he had power from being in the job for nearly 20 years and molding the system around him while team bosses, and even FIA presidents came and went.
One can only imagine the online outcry had Wittich pulled one of Whiting’s stunts, like the “sudden” requirement that all teams use the Extreme Wet tyre in Japan 2007. Which “somehow” was sent late to Ferrari. And Ferrari was “suddenly” forced to pit, putting them 20th and 21th with a championship on the line. Quite the “mistake”.
Alonso said it all when he noted he never spoke during any of the Whiting-led driver briefings because those who went against the race director “somehow” got themselves some unwanted attention from the stewards.
S
13th November 2024, 4:26
Whiting’s ‘respect’ came primarily from giving everyone in F1 what they wanted – not by following the rules.
grapmg
14th November 2024, 15:10
Maybe you should ask Vettel how he respected Charlie (Mexico 2016). Still remember all drivers laught in the next breefing when Charlie tried to explain (based on the footage) why Lewis wasn’t penalized for cutting the corner while it was clear to all he did exactly the same as Max later in that race and was (rightfully) penalized
An Sionnach
12th November 2024, 22:10
It’s time for race director Johnny Herbert. With people like me occasionally(!) complaining about his stewarding, it would serve us right!
Mayrton
13th November 2024, 10:04
Hadn’t thought about that angle yet. I thought his sacking was result of the partiality of Race Control in Brasil. But it might be they didn’t go far enough and Johnny would be the leverage needed to finally stop Max from winning. Although I must say Herbert did not exactly reach it’s target of +29 for Lando in Brasil, so that fail actually doesn’t look good on him in his ambition to become the Race Director.
SteveP
13th November 2024, 18:25
Do pass that interesting “herbal” cigarette around, so others can have fun.
Osnola
13th November 2024, 11:59
He has the correct passport :)
BenHur
14th November 2024, 17:11
I propose Jos Instead, that should be fun
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th November 2024, 22:26
I don’t think Johnny is ready for that level of responsibility. He doesn’t seem to be ready for the responsibility of driver steward, on the most recent evidence.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
12th November 2024, 23:11
I feel like one problem the race director has now is that a lot of fans don’t seem to know the difference between them & the stewards in terms of who’s making what decisions.
I mean how many times have we seen fans hurling hatred at a race director for a penalty decision when the race director actually doesn’t have any say over the decision to award a penalty as that is down to the stewards.
The race director can ask refer an incident to the stewards but they are then not involved in any eventual decision if the stewards do end up taking a look at it.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
12th November 2024, 23:17
Hopefully the FIA is actually interested in improving the performance and quality of race direction. If the stewards are refusing to penalize people who run others off the track through dangerous braking maneuvers, thats one thing. But we need to see “referred by race direction” much more when it comes to lunatic driving. Especially on the moves VES is not getting criticized for, which I have seen two this year, where he veers in to the driver, well after the corner maneuver in an attempt to drive the other guy off track or slow them down, due to having a bad corner exit, but still keeping the lead.
That said, hopefully Max drives more like the rest of the guys and has to prove his metal through quality driving and real race craft (more like Alonso for instance). Nobody needs the clown show to continue, and hopefully the FIA are doing something about it.
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th November 2024, 8:04
@roger-ayles Race control is the organisation who send offenders to the stewards but also control the race it self. If you take Brasil for example the red flag were slow but later fast while the situation were the same. Penaulties I blame Johnny (euh Stewards)…;)
@pcxmac The FIA influence RC already way to much example Masi 2021 you remember Spa that year after that the FIA said races will not finish behind Safety cars and we all know what happened the last race… was that Masi or the FIA. As Masi wasn’t fired on the spot you know the answer…
S
13th November 2024, 0:57
A combination of “You won’t let me do my job properly, so I quit” and “You won’t do it the way we want you to, so you’re fired.”
Masi tried to change F1 for the better but was met with infinite resistance.
His replacements settled somewhere in the middle, erring on the side of the rule book (but decreasing over time) – but have also met significant resistance.
Meanwhile, Liberty’s grip on F1 grows all the time. F1’s value has become nothing more than what the financial statements show.
SteveP
13th November 2024, 18:33
Like I said, “a free and frank exchange of views” – maybe using words that drivers aren’t supposed to use, but neither are drivers :)
Lewisham Milton
13th November 2024, 7:54
Only a matter of time before F1 is downgraded to cup status.
Mog
13th November 2024, 19:27
I wonder if this is because he made it too obvious that decisions were being made to favour the title challenger and not the title defender
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
14th November 2024, 22:28
Interestingly, the regulation breaches I saw pointed the opposite direction.
SteveP
15th November 2024, 8:24
What breaches did you see?