It was March 14, 2019, there were three days left for the start of a new Formula 1 season, and a shocking news entered the editorial offices of all the news organizations that follow the world of motorsport: he died Charlie Whiting. The then race director of the Circus left us exactly three years ago, in Melbourne, as he was preparing to start his umpteenth season as ‘referee’ of the Grand Prix. A pulmonary embolism crushed him shortly before the start of the Australian GP weekend that year. The news hit the entire paddock world extremely hard. Whiting, in fact, was greatly appreciated and esteemed by all and represented a central pivot of the Federation, which he had entered for the first time over three decades earlier, in 1988. Since 1997 he had been appointed race director and FIA safety delegate.
Precisely on the theme of pilots safety F1 owes a lot to Whiting, starting from the introduction of the halo to moving on to a whole series of procedures and devices that have helped drivers to run less danger in their business over the years. Recently, thanks to the fierce controversies that have surrounded his heir Michael Masi, the figure of Whiting has been cited by many insiders as an example of a ‘perfect’ Race Director. In reality, however, the English manager himself found himself at the center of several and important controversies during his long career. Above all, the one linked to the pilot’s death Jules Bianchi, which occurred following a terrifying accident at the 2014 Suzuka GP, when the Marussia rider, who went off the track, hit a crane positioned in the escape route to remove another car that had been damaged. On this particular day, both F1 and the FIA wanted to celebrate Whiting’s memory with a series of dedicated posts.
Remembering a passionate, dedicated, and dearly-missed character of the paddock
Three years on, and Charlie Whiting’s enormous contribution to F1 is still felt# F1 pic.twitter.com/vRo1DIWNmV
– Formula 1 (@ F1) March 14, 2022
Three years ago, Charlie Whiting, an unforgettable @ F1 figure, left us. The FIA family remembers and pays tribute to him. pic.twitter.com/Lx8tyDrHNW
– FIA (@fia) March 14, 2022
#Charlie #Whiting #years #sudden #disappearance #FormulaPassionit