General
Wittich leaves as F1 race director: Are the drivers a reason for his exit?
- Ludo van Denderen
It was nothing more than a brief announcement. To sum up: The FIA thanked Niels Wittich for his work as Race Director in Formula 1, after he himself decided to take up a challenge elsewhere. It took less than an hour for the German to respond to this message, indicating that he did not want to leave at all and has therefore been sidelined.
Over the past year, several high-ranking figures within the FIA have left—whether pushed or not. Sporting director Steve Nielsen, technical director Tim Goss, and CEO Natalie Robyn left, and each time, the same story came out: they were no longer on the same page with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. And so now Niels Wittich is also leaving through the back door.
All F1 media - including GPblog - asked the FIA for a reaction to Wittich's statement in Motorsport-Magazin. But, for now, the silence from Paris remains deafening. Meanwhile, the rumour mill is running at full speed. Wittich is said to have fallen into disfavour with Ben Sulayem.
One can think of several topics on which dissatisfaction may have arisen. It could be about regulations, an issue that has been under a magnifying glass among teams, drivers, media, and fans since the Grands Prix in the United States and Mexico.
Does Wittich disagree with drivers?
However, Germany's Auto, Motor und Sport came out with the story on Wednesday that Wittich's poor relationship with the drivers is the reason for the departure. As the "most likely" explanation, the outlet cites that Wittich hardly tolerated contradiction during driver briefings which frustrated the drivers. For instance, he reportedly insisted on severely punishing drivers who swore, talked about fireproof underwear, and not being allowed to wear jewellery. Behind closed doors, several drivers allegedly accused Wittich of behaving like a teacher. They felt they were being treated like children.
These issues were also reflected in the GPDA's statement, which was published as an open letter. The site speculates that Ben Sulayem subsequently decided to replace Wittich to accommodate the drivers and get into calmer waters with them himself.