F1 News
Who is Rui Marques, the new F1 race director who replaces Niels Wittich?
- Nicole Mulder
The FIA suddenly announced on Tuesday that Niels Wittich will no longer be Formula 1 race director. With three race weekends to go in the 2024 Formula 1 season, Rui Marques will take over. Who is the new race director in F1?
Who is Rui Marques, the new FIA race director?
Rui Marques, the new race director in Formula 1 from the Las Vegas Grand Prix onwards, already has experience in the same position in other Formula classes. Until recently, he held the position of race director in Formula 2 and Formula 3, and now he is making the big move to F1.
Before his position as race director in F2 and F3, Marques' roles since 2012 included track commissioner, judge, national and international steward, deputy race director and race director in several championships, including the WTCC championship.
Marques takes over from Niels Wittich, who held the position for a relatively short time. In 2022, Wittich joined Eduardo Freitas to replace Michael Masi. Masi was appointed in early 2019 to replace Charlie Whiting, who was active as Formula 1's race director for decades. Whiting suddenly died. Masi was replaced following the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi season finale, where Max Verstappen secured his first world title at the expense of Lewis Hamilton.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton