Breaking news
Formula 1
FIA, F1 teams working on long-term Whiting replacement plan
FIA president Jean Todt says motor racing’s governing body will work closely with Formula 1 teams on how best to replace race director Charlie Whiting over the longer term.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Mar 15, 2019, 2:39 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The F1 paddock was left in shock ahead of the Australian Grand Prix after Whiting passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning as the result of a pulmonary embolism.
Todt said that the FIA has put in place "emergency" measures for the Melbourne weekend, with Australian Michael Masi stepping in as F1 race director, while its headquarters in Geneva sort out how best to move forward.
As well as being F1 race director, Whiting fulfilled a host of roles including single-seater safety, circuit safety and technical matters.
It is unclear if the FIA will decide one man can take over all of Whiting’s responsibilities, or if the roles will be split up between several individuals.
“You can imagine that we have been caught by surprise,” said Todt, who held a minute’s silence in memory of Whiting ahead of a press conference appearance.
“In fact I got a phone call very early, I was in Tasmania when the doctor called me to inform me he was next to Charlie, who did not wake up.
“So we did not have a plan to have a different organisation. But now we are faced with this emergency situation for the weekend we are going to have one emergency plan to be able to deliver a good job.
“We are going to work very closely with the F1 teams and we have started to think. Our team in Geneva is trying to see what are going to implement for the future.”
While the FIA has not yet decided on what it will do post-Whiting, Todt said that a succession plan had been worked on before.
“The future of the F1 department is something we touched on for quite a while, including with Charlie, as we knew that he was not going to have this position forever,” added Todt.
“So we were working and thinking about a future plan, and unfortunately we will have to implement that earlier than what we are hoping. But we will work for it.”
Read Also:
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Pirelli believes it has "solution" for 18-inch F1 tyre testing
Next article Australian GP: Friday press conference
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Latest news
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP2
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
13 min
F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - FP2
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
38 min
Exploring Ferrari's 'less than a tenth' US GP update package
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
F1 United States GP: Charles Leclerc pips Max Verstappen to top FP1
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
George Russell reveals he lost sleep over his own driving, not the F1 championship
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe