As further key changes to the race director plans for F1 2025 are teased, Eddie Jordan is calling for the FIA to set up an “exam”.

The former F1 team boss would refer back to the late great Charlie Whiting, arguing he “never needed to see a book” when making his decisions, an issue which Jordan believes is present in the current F1.

Eddie Jordan calls for FIA race director ‘exam’

The FIA F1 race director role has been something of a revolving door in recent years, with Niels Wittich departing the role three rounds before the end of F1 2024. It was a position he had held since 2022, initially sharing it with Eduardo Freitas before taking it over permanently, the pair installed after the departure of Michael Masi.

Wittich departed following some controversy over his use of red flags at last season’s rain-soaked Brazilian GP – Max Verstappen particularly unimpressed as it led to his elimination in qualifying – with Rui Marques promoted from his Formula 2/3 race director role to take over from Wittich for the final three rounds.

Race control once more found itself in the spotlight though in Qatar, after the race was not neutralised when Alex Albon’s Williams wingmirror detached and came to rest on the main straight – later hit by Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz – while Lando Norris was given a 10-second stop/go penalty for not slowing under double yellows shown for that mirror.

Further changes to race control are seemingly on the way for F1 2025, with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem – during an FIA event at Jarama – announcing that “there will be new blood and there will be more than one [race director]”.

And to properly ready the race directors for Formula 1 action, Jordan came up with an idea for the FIA.

“These race directors, I would like to set them an exam,” he said on the Formula For Success podcast, speaking following Wittich’s exit.

“I would like [them] to be able to look at the rule book and see all of the various different rules and regulations, because they should have it on the tip of their tongue.

“They’re not. They’re going to that stupid yellow book, reading up all of the bits and pieces and saying, ‘Oh yeah, this code, code this and code that, and article this and article that and subsection that’. It’s b***ocks. These guys don’t know what they’re doing.”

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It was after Whiting’s sudden passing ahead of the 2019 Australian Grand Prix that the F1 race director role took on something of a cutthroat nature, with Masi in that position until the close of 2021, departing following his controversial handling of that season’s title decider between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

In Jordan’s opinion, Masi also fell victim to scrambling for the book of rules, something he said Whiting never needed to do.

“Charlie Whiting. I’m very concerned that the same with Michael Masi, did he know the rulebook inside out?” Jordan continued. “I dare say he didn’t, because he made decisions in Abu Dhabi that he probably needed to revert back to a book.

“Charlie Whiting, he had it on the tip of his tongue. He never needed to see a book.

“I guarantee if you gave 20 of the most difficult questions to Max Verstappen tomorrow about rules and regulations, I guarantee you he’d have every single one of them correct, and he wouldn’t have to look at anything.

“Now, that is what we need, we need somebody of that kind of ilk.”

The F1 2025 campaign gets underway with the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, the event at Albert Park returning to its slot as the season opener for the first time since 2019.

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