Fresh FIA upheaval as F2 race director and key steward dismissed

More changes emerge at the FIA on the eve of the Qatar Grand Prix, which forces an expanded role for F1’s race director

Formula 1 race director Rui Marques faces increased duties at the Qatar Grand Prix in having to take charge of F2 as well, following the latest shock FIA exit, Autosport has learned.

Just one week after former F2/F3 race director Marques took over in F1 from Niels Wittich, who himself was sacked by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem after the Brazilian GP, there has been further upheaval.

Janette Tan, who had been appointed as Marques’ successor and had been expected to have her first race in charge of F2 in Qatar, has now been unexpectedly dismissed just days before the Losail event.

She had gained experience as Marques’ deputy and originally was going to be in charge for the final two rounds of F2 in Qatar and Abu Dhabi before likely stepping up to the role full-time in 2025.

However, that will now not happen because she is understood to be the latest FIA casualty of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, although the reasons for her departure have not been made public.

Tan’s exit means that Marques now faces a tougher than normal schedule for the Losail weekend as he has been drafted in for F2 as well – which comes on an F1 sprint weekend that already has a more intense schedule than usual.

The extra demands of his Qatar weekend also come as he faces the third weekend of a brutal four-race stint – with him having been race director for the Macau Grand Prix the weekend prior to Las Vegas.

While the added F2 duties seem a lot, the demands on the race director have at least been lessened recently thanks to better support structures in Race Control.

Marques will have help from four staff on site, as well as assistance from technical and IT departments to help on issues like track limit detection and stewarding matters.

The FIA has also worked a lot in ramping up what its Remote Operations Centre does, where another four to six people assist with live support on an F1 race weekend.

It is also not unusual for the F1 race director to play either an active or advisory role in support races on grand prix weekends.

Tan is not the only senior figure who has departed in recent days, with it emerging that long-serving FIA race steward Tim Mayer has also gone.

Mayer, who is the son of McLaren founder Teddy Mayer, has served at the FIA for the last 15 years as well as being an FIA delegate in the United States.

While there has been no official statement over the background of his exit, it is understood that there may been tensions with Ben Sulayem over the circumstances surrounding the track invasion at the United States Grand Prix.

The exits of Tan and Mayer come against the backdrop of a major rotation of staff at the FIA, ever before Wittich’s exit earlier this month.

In October the FIA parted ways with its director of communications Luke Skipper and secretary general of mobility Jacob Bangsgaard.

Late last year both sporting director Steve Nielsen and single-seater technical director Tim Goss resigned, while head of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission Deborah Mayer also left.

The FIA’s first CEO Natalie Robyn also quit the organisation in May after less than two years in the role.

In this article
Jonathan Noble
Formula 1
FIA F2
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