The Whiting traits emerging from F1’s new race control

Any good referee knows that give players an inch, they will take a mile.

At a top level series like Formula 1, where the marginal gains at the limits of the rulebook are what make the difference between hero and zero, being fast and loose with what people are allowed to get away with is the recipe for anarchy.

Instead, if you want to keep control of the game, rules need to be strictly enforced and in a consistent manner so everyone knows exactly where the threshold is. If everyone is treated equally and in a transparent way, then there can be no grounds for complaint. Accept no nonsense, people don’t misbehave.

After the controversial Abu Dhabi finish to the 2021 F1 season and the departure of Michael Masi, there was always going to be a great degree of interest about how things would operate under the new dual race director plan for this season.

Would F1 continue down the laissez-faire policy of Michael Masi, who was always adamant that every incident should be treated on its individual merits – so he shied away from giving some hard-and-fast guidelines of what was and wasn’t allowed? Or would things return more to how they were under Charlie Whiting, who preferred guidelines to be laid out, and took a dim view of drivers who tried to pull the wool over his eyes with some cheeky behaviour?

Whiting’s approach to driving etiquette was very much in line with how he dealt with the teams: strict but accepting that there were times they would try to push the boundaries because it is their job to.

That is why he always famously adopted the stance that Article 0.0.0 of his rule books were: ‘Thou shalt not take the piss.’

Charlie Whiting's tragic death on the eve of the 2019 Australian GP thrust Michael Masi into the FIA F1 race director role

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Based on what we’ve seen so far from Niels Wittich, who has been race director at all the opening races so far this season, the 2022 approach is very much from the Whiting camp – and will likely continue when Eduardo Freitas steps up at races later on.

Absent for the drivers is any ambiguity about where Wittich stands or what the rules are. He has been detailed and thorough in his explanations, he has given black-and-white definitions for areas that in the past were quite open for interpretation, like track limits, and he has not been afraid to clamp down instantly where he felt drivers were overstepping the mark.

At last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, for example, after two races where Max Verstappen had been ultra-aggressive in crowding Charles Leclerc at the safety car restarts, Wittich implemented a new protocol that no car overlapping would be allowed.

His ruling included some clear graphics that made sure nobody could misunderstand what the new procedure was.

"I think we need to learn how the new race directors work and how they govern it. We learned a little bit in the hard way at the moment" Mike Krack

Wittich has also shown that he will take no nonsense and punish actions that he thinks go beyond what is allowed. Lance Stroll was certainly taken aback by the way that he was given a five-second penalty for weaving in Melbourne.

“I don't get it,” said the Canadian. “It was two guys weaving all the time, it's just the last move really. You can weave down the straight as long as you don't weave when the guy's approaching very close behind you. I'm weaving to try and brake the slipstream, not to try and defend and then they penalise me for it. I don't get it. A lot of funny decisions going on right now.”

But, as Aston Martin’s team principal Mike Krack conceded, it’s the competitors who have to adapt their behaviour to how the regulator implements the rules, it’s not the other way around.

"I think we need to learn how the new race directors work and how they govern it,” explained Krack. “We learned a little bit in the hard way at the moment.”

Lance Stroll felt his penalty for weaving on the straight during the Australian GP was harsh, as part of the hard-line approach from race direction

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It is not a referee’s job to be popular: he is there to enforce the rulebook in the right manner – and sometimes that means taking decisions that are not universally liked by the participants.

Wittich has already had his first taste of not being flavour of the month with the drivers when it has come to being strict on jewellery and drivers’ underwear. Both of those policies, in enforcing regulations that have long-stood within the FIA rule book but have been allowed to fall by the wayside, are as a result of the safety lessons learned from Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Grosjean’s crash highlighted how crucial a few extra seconds of protection can be for a driver: which is why fireproof underwear is so important; and why there remain risks for jewellery to snag on a car if the driver needs to be removed in a hurry.

But his clampdown did not go down well with the drivers. Lewis Hamilton has said he will be defiant over the jewellery ban, partly because some of his ear-rings cannot be removed.

And Pierre Gasly was distinctly unimpressed with the FIA getting involved in his underpants.

“Honestly I think I've said enough. I won't comment on that,” he blasted in Melbourne. “If they want to check my arse, feel free, I've got nothing to hide. My cock, everything. If that makes them happy, feel free.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who has clearly little positive to say about Masi’s tenure as race director, told the Press Association this week that he was not sure Wittich was doing the right thing in getting involved with things like the jewellery ban.

“How he has run the first few races has been respectful, solid and he hasn’t put a single foot wrong,” said Wolff. “But is that [jewellery ban] a battle he needs to have at this stage?”

Yet the jewellery ban and black-and-white rules on track are two sides of the same coin – in that they are about a rigorous implementation of rules that have been made explicitly clear to everyone. It is also something that was out of the Whiting playbook, as he sometimes enforced regulations that left some within the sport scratching their heads.

Niels Wittich has certainly made an impression in F1 since starting his dual role as new race director with Eduardo Freitas

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

One obvious example was the planned ban on drivers throwing visor tear-offs on to the track, which had been set to come into force for the start of the 2016 season. It had been prompted by a desire from Whiting to avoid the ongoing risk of tear offs getting stuck in car brakes and prompting retirements – as had happened several times in the past.

But the rule brought little support from drivers and teams, especially with the added potential risk of drivers losing visibility if their visor got dirty in a race and there were no tears-offs available. In the end, teams were advised to limit the use of tear offs, and common sense prevailed – with the issue fading away.

“How he has run the first few races has been respectful, solid and he hasn’t put a single foot wrong. But is that [jewellery ban] a battle he needs to have at this stage?” Toto Wolff

Based on what we’ve seen so far, a practical solution is the most likely outcome too from any unease there is about jewellery and underwear, with F1’s new era of race control appearing to have got off to the positive start it needed after the mess at the end of last year.

Overall F1 has enjoyed a positive start with its new race directors

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images