Niels Wittich hits back at FIA: “I was fired without explanations, it’s a shame”. The former Formula 1 race director spoke about his departure, criticizing the Federation.

Niels Wittich’s departure
On December 12, the Federation released a press statement confirming that Niels Wittich had resigned from his position as F1 race director to pursue new opportunities. Less than 24 hours later, the German himself pointed out that he had not resigned but had been fired by the FIA. He was replaced by Portuguese Rui Marques.

Niels Wittich speaks
For the first time, Niels Wittich spoke about his sudden departure from the Federation, revealing the behind-the-scenes of his removal during testing at Sky Deutschland: “No one was able to give me an answer, the news really surprised me. I had no indication that something wasn’t working or that there was a reason for the change. In this sense, it was a total surprise.”

Niels Wittich continued: “I asked for an explanation, but no one answered me. The last time I spoke with the president of the FIA was last year in China, and I can’t say we had an argument or a negative relationship. Frankly, I had relatively few contacts with him. Such a sudden end to my mandate was a shame. F1 is quite fast when it comes to personnel, both within teams and among the directors, so I have to accept what happened for what it is,” concluded the former Formula 1 race director.