“Hiring and firing isn’t the solution” - F1 drivers react to shock race director change

F1 drivers have been reacting to the FIA’s decision to replace race director Niels Wittich with just three rounds to go, with George Russell adamant that “hiring and firing is not the solution”.

During the gap between Brazil and this weekend’s F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the FIA had announced Wittich had stepped down from his role as race director.

Just 24 hours later, Wittich informed German publication Motorsport-Magazin that he had been sacked by the FIA.

Wittich had held the role since 2022, but had been put under greater scrutiny in recent rounds amid a number of incidents involving Max Verstappen.

Speaking in the FIA press conference in Las Vegas, Russell revealed the drivers “weren’t aware” prior to the announcement about Wittich's departure. 

“We definitely weren’t aware,” Russell said. “It was a bit of a surprise for everybody. It’s a hell a lot of pressure now onto the new race director just three races left.

“I think for us… often as drivers we feel we’re the last to find out this sort of information. When it involves us directly it would be nice to be kept in the loop and have an understanding of what decisions are being made.

“Time will tell. I am sure the new guy will handle the position just fine but definitely not an easy race for a new race director.”

Wittich has been replaced by F2/F3 race director Rui Marques.

However, Russell believes the constant change isn’t a sensible solution.

“I think there’s no secret some were not happy with what was going on in terms of the decisions that were being made,” he added. “At the end of the day, I think if he worked together for us we could have helped improve the matter.

“Sometimes just hiring and firing is not the solution. You need to work together to improve the problem. Every time there’s a change you have to take one step back before you make the two step forwards.”

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen isn’t concerned by the late change - but wants greater cooperation between the race director and the drivers akin to when Charlie Whiting held the role.

“I don’t think it’s a concern as such. It’s a tough job,” Magnussen explained. “It’s a job that requires experience and to be honest I don’t know how experienced the new guy is. I know he’s come from F2 and F3. He must have some experience.

“Hopefully he’s going to be fine. I think we all, certainly I do, tend to compare it to the Charlie Whiting days. Certainly for us drivers he was someone that we felt really connected to.

“Always felt like we were listening to but now it feels almost as us against them. It should definitely be more of a cooperation - a closer connection between us and them as we can help each other a lot. Hopefully the new guy will help going in that direction.”

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon added: “It’s definitely not an easy race to start around here on a street circuit but I think Rui, he came from Macau just now. It’s probably a tougher circuit than here, definitely. Looking forward to meeting him and having good chats in the drivers’ meeting with him.

“See how he works and I am sure we will be talking a lot about how he does things, what ideas he has and very important topics to use - track limits, kerbs. Everybody has his way of doing things.

“We need to obviously communicate well in terms of what we feel is very important going forward.”

Norris calls for “permanent team”

One other criticism of the FIA has been the lack of consistency when it comes to stewarding and officials.

The stewards rotate with various different former drivers contributing to decisions throughout the season.

Given how tough the role is as race director - and officiating a global sport like F1 is in general - Lando Norris feels they would benefit by having full-time, permanent staff.

“Their job is tough,” Norris said. “I don’t think people realise how tough it is. It’s one of the hardest sports to police in the world I think. I think it’s a sport where there’s so many things that can happen.

“You want rules but you don’t want rules. That makes it very tough. You are always going to have people that disagree or agree. I think it’s just a very tough position to be in. I don’t know what’s going on there. There’s obviously things that are not running as smoothly as we would want.

“But as such a big sport, like with most other sports, you have permanent stewards, permanent people, a permanent team that run everything for consistency and many other reasons. That’s what we want as as drivers, what we have requested. We also acknowledge it’s a very difficult position to be in.”