Rui Marques will remain as Formula 1’s race director for the F1 2025 season, PlanetF1.com understands, with Claire Dubbelman set to act as deputy race director.

It comes after Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the FIA president, claimed that there would be “more than one” race director in place for the new season.

Rui Marques to remain as FIA race director for F1 2025

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Marques took over as F1’s race director for the final three races of the F1 2024 season following the sudden departure of Niels Wittich ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The Portuguese combined his F1 duties with his existing role as the race director for F2, Formula 1’s main feeder category.

Speaking at an FIA event at Jarama last week, Ben Sulayem claimed that the FIA would be relying on several race directors over the course of F1 2025, vowing that the exact number of people would be determined in the days ahead.

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PlanetF1.com understands, however, that Marques will remain in place and oversee all of this year’s 24 races.

He will be joined by Dubbelman, who will take on the role of deputy race director on a permanent basis.

Dubbelman joined the FIA in 2017 and previously acted as championship manager to a number of categories, including F2 and F3, and has most recently served as F1 sporting manager with the governing body.

She has vital experience of the position of deputy race director having assisted in the role in previous seasons.

Dubbelman is a graduate of the FIA’s High Performance Programme for Officials, with F1’s governing body recently embarking on a push to develop a new breed of officials.

The FIA announced plans last year for a new officials department, aimed at training the next generation of referees and race stewards.

It is hoped that the initiative will result in greater strength in depth at the FIA, with single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis keen for the governing body to become “a more professional body in the future.”

Addressing the need for a broader selection of officials, Ben Sulayem said last week: “For sure there will be new blood and there will be more than one [race director]. That’s for sure.

“There have been people learning, there have been people working behind all the time. You can’t just throw somebody into this big challenge.

“And then teams can complain, drivers can complain, but then they don’t want to pay for it.

“I’m being very, very honest and straight with you, this takes a lot of investment.

“It has taken us more than two-and-a-half years to get to what we are achieving now. Do we have the results? We will know the results when the season starts.

‘It is very important. What if the race director decides not to go or if he gets sick?

“It’s the same as the FIA. If something happens to me tomorrow, the FIA will continue to function without me, so this has to be a system. It’s not about individuals.

“There are a lot of mistakes and then you blame the FIA. It’s easy to blame the FIA. Why can’t you be productive in your criticism and say: ‘How can we find a solution?’

“But where is the solution? The solution is in training, the solution is to bring people in.

“Is it about diversity? No, we talk about diversity and we say they say: ‘You bring this from this country or this woman or something.’

“That’s an insult. We don’t have women because we have to take 30 per cent, we take women on the basis of merit and credibility because they are good.

“We hire non-European people from other countries because they are good, they are trained, they have the passion to compete, not because I have to have this colour, this religion.

“Then you won’t have a good FIA, a strong FIA. You will have a weak one because you will not deliver what you promise.

“For us, it’s a big challenge.”

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