The “strange timing” across the sudden exit of F1’s race director is ready to proceed to show a significant speaking level within the sport at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The FIA, F1’s governing physique, introduced unexpectedly final week that Niels Wittich had left the function with quick impact and been changed by Rui Marques, who steps up from the equal place in F2 and F3.
However though an FIA assertion asserting Wittich’s exit stated the German official had “stepped down” from his function with the intention to “pursue new opportunities”, Sky Sports activities Information understands the 52-year-old was successfully sacked from the place he had held since 2022.
The sudden change in one of many sport’s most important roles was mentioned on the most recent version of the Sky Sports activities F1 Podcast.
“I just don’t understand the Niels Wittich scenario,” stated Sky Sports activities F1 commentator David Croft.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
Sky Sports activities’ Craig Slater takes a more in-depth look as to why Niels Wittich has stepped down from his place as F1 race director, and who will substitute him on this function
“In the event that they had been going to switch him on the finish of the season, substitute him on the finish of the season, convey somebody in to shadow him for the following few races.
“If something has gone on that demands he gets replaced straight away then that’s fine, these things happen, people get sacked and we don’t always find out why. But it does seem a very strange time for this to happen.”
Subscribe to the Sky Sports activities F1 Podcast now on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Spreaker
And on Marques making his debut within the F1 Race Management sizzling seat on the logistically complicated Las Vegas avenue monitor, Croft added: “I’m not saying it worries me because I don’t want to give the impression that I think that Rui Marquez is going to do a bad job.
“I do not know if he is going do a foul job or job, to be trustworthy, and I am certain that the FIA thinks he is as much as the duty and I am certain that he’ll do the absolute best job he can.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
David Croft thinks if Max Verstappen wins the drivers championship in Las Vegas, nothing ought to detract from his ‘genius’
“But you need experience in these things. This is a high-pressure weekend. So I hope nothing goes wrong, I hope we get a fairly smooth weekend where we haven’t got loose drain covers and we haven’t got tarmac breaking up or we haven’t got multiple crashes.”
Take heed to the most recent version of the Sky Sports activities F1 Podcast in full as Crofty and F1 podcaster Tom Bellingham preview the game’s second-ever race on the neon-lit streets of Las Vegas on a weekend Max Verstappen can seal his fourth world title and McLaren can take a giant step in the direction of their first constructors’ championship in 26 years.
