![](\"https:\/\/www.grandprix.com\/display\/photo?photo_caption=Start%2C+Saudi+Arabian+GP+2024&photo_copyright=%C2%A9+Red+Bull&photo_url=https%3A%2F%2Fphotos.grandprix.com%2Fjpeg%2Fraces%2Fpsau24%2Fsat%2Fred%2Fstart8-lg.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nStart, Saudi Arabian GP 2024
\u00a9 Red Bull<\/p>\n
Speaking to DPA news agency, Wittich recounted being summoned to Geneva during a race-free window late in the 2024 season, expecting a routine coordination meeting. Instead, the German official says he left Switzerland without his job.<\/p>\n
That’s nothing unusual in itself – it had happened before that we consulted or coordinated with colleagues on site, Wittich said. But without anything having happened between the FIA and me, at least according to my recollection, I lost my job at the end of the meeting.<\/p>\n
Wittich insists he did not resign, contradicting the FIA’s statement at the time that he had stepped down to pursue new opportunities.<\/p>\n
I repeatedly asked during the conversation what the reason for this step was, he said. To this day, I have not received an answer. I simply don’t know the reason.<\/p>\n
The FIA had praised Wittich’s professionalism and dedication in its announcement, but according to him, he was one of several officials forced out during a wider internal clear-out under continuing FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.<\/p>\n
It does indeed leave a bad taste in the mouth that so many people had to leave, Wittich said, naming long-time chief steward Tim Mayer and deputy Formula 2 race director Janette Tan among those affected. This included not only freelancers, but also many who were dismissed from permanent positions without explanation.<\/p>\n
Wittich became sole F1 race director in 2023 following the departure of Michael Masi and the end of a shared arrangement with Eduardo Freitas. His tenure included controversy, notably around enforcement of jewellery rules.<\/p>\n
The FIA’s approach was that there is a valid set of rules that should be enforced. And I made sure that the rules were followed, Wittich said. Formula 1 stars are also role models – the next generation looks up to them.<\/p>\n
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher has previously described Wittich’s dismissal as an absolute misjudgement, speculating that political pressure may have played a role.<\/p>\n
Now race director of the GT World Challenge and a TV expert for Sky, Wittich continued: “Clearly, none of us were valued, and obviously other issues had a higher priority than individual performance.<\/p>\n
That’s the disappointing truth I was suddenly confronted with. I don’t expect to get an answer even in 100 years, Wittich added. It was a good time, but it has come to an end.<\/p>\n
(GMM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JANUARY 13, 2026 Former Formula 1 race director Niels Wittich says he was dismissed by the FIA without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,855,884,911,898,64,63,839,840,892,936,937,922,864,868,843,512,874,906,897,817,836,904,848,845,826,837,813,835,816,867,876,894,841,842,833,908,887,860,909,930,914,939,886,934,832,834,858,941,875,861,850,870,854,900,866,846,880,943,889,878,823,881,863,933,935,910,859,913,844,923,927,896,926,883,938,932,824,901,871,852,849,888,872,891,915,822,838,918,916,857,879,893,869,931,885,924,847,882,851,865,925,928,942,929,85,920,921,902,862,919,917,873,940,905,912,895,853,856,877,819,903,899,907,890],"class_list":["post-410666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-sutil","tag-albers","tag-alesi","tag-ammermuller","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-autoracing","tag-autos","tag-badoer","tag-bahrain","tag-barcelona","tag-benetton","tag-bruno-senna","tag-button","tag-cars","tag-china","tag-david-coulthard","tag-davidson","tag-doornbos","tag-f1","tag-f1-racing","tag-fauzy","tag-felipe-massa","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula-one","tag-formula1","tag-giancarlo-fisichella","tag-gilles-villeneuve","tag-glock","tag-grand-prix","tag-grandprix","tag-grandprix-com","tag-hakkinen","tag-hamilton","tag-heikki-kovalainen","tag-hill","tag-hockenheim","tag-honda","tag-hungary","tag-ide","tag-indianapolis","tag-inside-f1","tag-insidef1-com","tag-jaime-alguesuari","tag-japan","tag-jaques-villeneuve","tag-jarno-trulli","tag-jenson-button","tag-juan-pablo-montoya","tag-kamui-kobayashi","tag-karthikeyan","tag-karun-chandhok","tag-kimi-raikkonen","tag-klien","tag-korea","tag-kovalainen","tag-kubica","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-liuzzi","tag-lucas-di-grassi","tag-magny-cours","tag-malaysia","tag-mansell","tag-mark-webber","tag-mclaren","tag-michael-schumacher","tag-minardi","tag-monaco","tag-montagny","tag-monte-carlo","tag-monteiro","tag-montreal","tag-monza","tag-motorsport","tag-nakajima","tag-nick-heidfeld","tag-nico-hulkenberg","tag-nico-rosberg","tag-paffett","tag-pedro-de-la-rosa","tag-piquet","tag-prost","tag-racing","tag-racingcars","tag-red-bull","tag-renault","tag-robert-kubica","tag-rosberg","tag-rossiter","tag-rubens-barrichello","tag-san-marino","tag-sato","tag-sauber","tag-schumacher","tag-scott-speed","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sebastien-buemi","tag-senna","tag-silverstone","tag-singapore","tag-spa","tag-sports","tag-spyker","tag-super-aguri","tag-sutil","tag-timo-glock","tag-toro-rosso","tag-toyota","tag-trulli","tag-turkey","tag-valles","tag-verstappen","tag-vettel","tag-vitaly-petrov","tag-vitantonio-liuzzi","tag-webber","tag-williams","tag-winkelhock","tag-wurz","tag-yamamoto","tag-zonta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}