Parc Ferme: Early FIA Departures

Both Niels Wittich and Paolo Basarri are to leave their positions with immediate effect. In Wittich’s case, this is strange timing.

The Championship is now moving into the most critical phase of the entire season, and the captain is abandoning the boat.

The big question then is: “Why now?” The whisper in the Paddock is the “P” word. Not Performance, of course, but Personality, as in “clash of”. The rock he apparently hit is the FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, himself.

This wouldn’t be the first occasion a senior officer has fallen foul of the head of the FIA. However, while the official statement suggested he (Wittich) had decided to “pursue his career elsewhere,” privately, he has allegedly said he was pushed.

Paolo Basarri, though, is a different case. Until recently, he held the role of the FIA’s compliance officer.

Apparently, the President had “lost confidence” in him, although there was no reference to what capacity. During his tenure, Bassari led two high-profile internal investigations related to the president, exonerating him in both instances.

Given this, it’s hard to fathom why he may have fallen out of favor, especially since another investigation might be in the offing.

The source of this could be the open letter to him from the Grand Prix Drivers Association responding to the President’s directives and comments regarding the driver’s use of swear words in media interviews.

In summary, it publicly takes him to task for the manner in which he transacts with them. The drivers make a number of points: First, he’s not their dad; second, they are adults, and he doesn’t get to speak to them “that way”.

If you listen closely, you can almost hear the raspberry being blown at the end.

On a more serious note, they have also requested transparency on what happens with the money they stump up in fines. Short of “it’s given to charity,” there’s no good answer here. Whatever the actual state of affairs, the mere suggestion is loaded with innuendo and obviously designed to besmirch the president.

Meanwhile, the FIA has tried to ramp up the credentials of Wittich’s replacement, Rui Marquez. F1’s regulatory body has gone to great lengths to highlight his grassroots credentials despite his lack of evident F1 experience.

Yes, he may have been Race Director for Formula 3 and Formula 2, but that’s like suggesting that umpiring a school tennis match qualifies you for the job at a Grand Slam tour event.

Ok, a bit extreme, but the stakes and pressure are so much higher in F1 than in the lower ranks.

We know that short of a Michael Masi-like intervention, the F1 drivers' title has Max Verstappen’s name on it.

Should that now be undermined through questionable judicial decision-making, then this would be a steppingstone to another F1 judicial meltdown. The FIA optics could look egg-smeared once again.