Germany’s motorsport-magazin.com quoted Wittich saying: “I’ve not resigned.” Its F1 reporter Christian Menath mentioned on X that Wittich had informed him he was fired.
The FIA mentioned it couldn’t present any info past its official assertion.
It’s extremely uncommon for an F1 race director to be modified throughout a season, particularly given there are simply three races remaining and each the drivers’ and constructors’ championships stay undecided.
The choice was not broadly anticipated inside F1, though some insiders had heard Wittich would get replaced on the finish of the season.
A senior supply mentioned that Wittich had left sooner than anticipated because of his relationship with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Wittich is the newest in a collection of senior folks to depart the FIA previously yr.
Sporting director Steve Nielsen stop the organisation in December 2023 after lower than a yr in his function. His departure adopted that of Deborah Mayer, the pinnacle of the FIA fee for girls.
In January, main engineer Tim Goss left his function as single-seater technical director. He’s now at Pink Bull’s RB staff.
And in Might Natalie Robyn left her function as chief govt officer, exterior after simply 18 months within the place.
Wittich’s departure comes after an argument regarding the FIA’s racing pointers broke out inside F1 final month, following a battle between title contenders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris throughout the US Grand Prix.
On the subsequent race in Mexico, the FIA agreed with the drivers that it might revise the rules with the purpose of stopping a type of defence that has been perfected by Verstappen and is permitted by the present guidelines.
Ben Sulayem’s stewardship of the FIA has been marked by a collection of controversies, the newest of which was a letter printed final week by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Affiliation through which they requested to be handled like adults within the wake of Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc being punished for swearing.
Additionally they requested Ben Sulayem to thoughts his “tone and language” when addressing the subject, after he was criticised by Lewis Hamilton for utilizing “stereotypical” language with a “racial ingredient”.
It’s not clear whether or not Wittich’s departure is expounded to both state of affairs.
His predecessor Masi left the FIA after his function within the controversy on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021.
Masi ignored the foundations throughout a late safety-car interval in that race and his selections led to Lewis Hamilton, who had been heading in the right direction to win an eighth world title by profitable the race, being overtaken by Max Verstappen, making the Dutchman champion as a substitute.
Wittich has been much less overtly controversial in his function, however there has remained an underlying discontent amongst groups and drivers in regards to the administration of FIA race management.
