YOU have to marvel at the audacity of FIA race director Niels Wittich.
He suggested the Red Bull Ring make changes to stop a repeat of Sunday’s farce.
Niels Wittich should accept the VAR-style room at Geneva didn’t work
Haas driver Kevin Magnussen veered onto gravel at the Red Bull Ring, which Wittich wants added to the final two corners of the circuit
Eight drivers were handed a range of penalties well after Sunday’s race
The Austrian Grand Prix turned into an embarrassment as the stewards were forced to re-watch the race after failing to dish out penalties correctly.
You had a ridiculous scenario that saw EIGHT drivers issued with post-race penalties that meant the results of the race, which had finished FIVE HOURS earlier, had to be changed.
Wittich was brought in to replace Michael Masi — the former race director who mucked up the outcome of the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Now he wants the Red Bull Ring to install gravel at the final two corners.
Doing so would prevent drivers from running wide, the rule his stewards were in charge of monitoring — and issuing penalties.
But the circuit, also host to the Austrian MotoGP race where gravel is not an option, is not to blame.
The biggest failure was the FIA’s much-lorded VAR-style room at their Geneva HQ, which was designed for the very purpose of issuing penalties in real time.
Introduced in the wake of Masi’s cock-up, it is supposed to act as extra pairs of eyes with correct and swift decision making.
The Austrian GP showed that it simply doesn’t work and the sport has been made to look amateurish.
Not only that but it will drive a bigger wedge between F1 and the FIA.
There is now a feeling in the paddock that Wittich is simply not up to the task of managing an F1 race.
He is the former race director of the DTM series and also held the position in F2 and F3.
Maybe it is not the Red Bull Ring that needs changing but in fact the race director himself.
