Villeneuve surprised by Wittich leaving: "Not happy with Brazil calls"
F1 News
The announcement that Niels Wittich, who replaced Michael Masi as Formula 1's race director in 2022, would be leaving the FIA with immediate effect surprised a lot of people. One of those was former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve, who has called Wittich's departure "big news" for the sport.
Wittich will be replaced at the Las Vegas Grand Prix by Rui Marques, who was most recently race director of Formula 2 and Formula 3. Villeneuve, speaking to Grosvenor Sport, has called for an explanation for his departure after reports that Wittich didn't actually resign.
Villeneuve 'surprised' by departure
"Niels Wittich quitting is surprising with three races to go," the 1997 world champion said; "That is big news. I would want to know why. Maybe a lot of people weren't happy with the Brazil calls."
The stewards came under scrutiny during the triple-header of Austin, Mexico and Brazil. Lando Norris was penalised for leaving the track during his battle with Max Verstappen at the US Grand Prix, and Verstappen received two 10-second time penalties during the pairs battle in Mexico. During qualifying for the Brazilian GP, Verstappen was furious, after the stewards had waited 45 seconds to deploy a red flag for Lance Stroll's crash, despite having thrown red flags quicker for other incidents.
Villeneuve continued, "We don't know if there are some personal issues as well that have nothing to do with racing so let's not read into it too soon. It is surprising though to have a change like this with three races to go. He was a fixture and quite strict and direct. Something has happened we are not privy to.”
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