Ben Sulayem Set to Reshuffle F1 Race Director Roles

FIA President Ben Sulayem announces a shake-up in race management, confirming multiple race directors for the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Several months after the announcement of Niels Wittich’s departure as Formula 1 race director, three races before the end of the 2024 season, no new official race director has yet been appointed.

Rui Marques has been serving as interim and is expected to step in again… but he won’t be the only one!

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem announced that the 2025 F1 season will once again feature a rotation of multiple race directors.

“Who and how many? That’s a question we’ll have answers to soon, in the coming days.”

“But it’s certain that there will be fresh faces, and there will be more than one [race director]. That’s a given.”

“There are people who have gained experience, people who have been working behind the scenes all along. You can’t just throw someone into this major challenge.”

“And then teams can complain, drivers can complain, but they don’t want to pay for it.”

“I’m being very, very honest and direct with you—it requires significant investment.”

“It’s taken us more than two and a half years to get to where we are today. Do we have the results? We’ll find out at the start of the season.”

“This is crucial. What if the race director can’t be there or falls ill?”

“It’s the same for the FIA. If something happens to me tomorrow, the FIA will continue to operate without me, so this must be a system. It’s not about individuals.”

“There are many mistakes, and then you blame the FIA. It’s easy to blame the FIA. Why can’t you be productive in your criticism and say: ‘How can we find a solution?’”

“But where is the solution? The solution lies in training, the solution is bringing people in.”

“Is it a question of diversity? No, we talk about diversity, and we want them to say: ‘You’re bringing this from such a country, or this woman, or something else.’”

“We don’t have women just because we need 30% or whatever the number is. We bring in women based on merit and credibility because they’re good at what they do, not because of a quota.”

“We hire non-European people from other countries because they are good, they are trained, and they have a passion for competition, not because I have to meet a color, religion, or other requirement.”

“Otherwise, you won’t have a good FIA, a strong FIA. You’ll have a weak one because you won’t fulfill your promises. For us, it’s a major challenge.”