Charlie Whiting
Formula One race director and safety delegate whose innovations saved the lives of many drivers
CHARLIE WHITING, who has died aged 66 after suffering a pulmonary embolism, was the fulcrum of Formula One motor racing: as race director, safety delegate, race starter and head of the technical department, he had a hand in most aspects of the sport, ensuring its smooth running, and his efforts undoubtedly saved drivers’ lives.
Responsible for both writing the rules and enforcing them, he made several crucial improvements to driver safety, most notably the halo, a titanium bar which extends above and in front of the driver’s head, minimising the chances of serious head injuries. In last year’s Belgian Grand Prix, when Fernando Alonso’s car landed on top of Charles Leclerc’s, the halo almost certainly saved the latter’s life.
Other safety measures brought in by Whiting included the safety survival cell within the cockpit, the front and side impact structures and the higher cockpit sides. At race time he handled the logistics of each grand prix, inspecting cars beforehand, enforcing FIA regulations and controlling the sequence of lights that starts every race.
Charles Whiting was born at Sevenoaks in Kent on August 12 1952. With an older brother, Nick, who drove in autocross and circuit racing, he was a fan of motorsport from an early age. The family lived a mile or so from the Brands Hatch circuit: “I would sneak through the woods and under the fence to watch. I think the first grand prix I saw was in 1964.”
Whiting went to technical college then studied Mechanical Engineering at Borough Polytechnic (now South Bank University). He worked initially in a garage, and first entered the motor racing world when preparing rally cars. In 1976 he worked with his brother running a car for Divina Galica, the Olympic skier turned racing driver.
The following year he joined Hesketh Racing, which was then in steep decline following the glorious James Hunt era, and when the team fell apart he moved to Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham outfit. Whiting stayed 10 years, becoming chief mechanic as Nelson Piquet won two world titles, in 1981 and 1983.
His later preoccupation with safety was influenced by the death in 1986 of the Brabham driver, Elio de Angelis, during testing at the Paul Ricard circuit near Marseille. “That was tragic in that he wasn’t injured,” Whiting recalled. “There were only about four gallons of petrol in the car, but unfortunately he tipped over, the petrol came out, it caught fire and there was no one there to put it out.”
Ecclestone sold off Brabham in 1987 as his rise to dominance in F1 began. Rather than join another team, in 1988 Whiting became the technical delegate to F1 for the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’automobile), motorsport’s world governing body.
“It was Bernie’s idea,” he recalled. “He always thought that no one there knew what they were doing. He said: ‘Why don’t you go and work there?’.”
Whiting’s unusual move from poacher to gamekeeper was difficult at first. “It was very strange indeed,” he said. “I couldn’t get my head around it at the beginning, but I got used to it. Quite a lot of teams were rather sceptical, and thought I was gathering information for Bernie to make a comeback.”
Whiting became race starter in 1996, and FIA director and safety delegate in 1997. As safety delegate he was involved in the occasional controversy: at the 2005 US Grand Prix, for example, Michelin, tyre suppliers for seven teams, found that the tyres they had taken to Indianapolis were unsafe for the track. They asked Whiting to install a chicane to slow down Turn 13, a high-banked corner which caused greater wear on the tyres than normal.
Whiting refused, on the grounds that this would be unfair to the teams who were able to race safely. In the event, after the opening non-racing formation lap, all cars using Michelin tyres withdrew to the pits, leaving only six in the race. Outraged fans demanded their money back and police were called in to restore order. Michelin subsequently offered refunds to everyone who had attended.
Whiting was, he admitted, a workaholic, and away from race tracks and meetings he spent most of his time in the air. “The travelling is not a problem, it’s just keeping up with everything,” he said. “If I don’t pick up my email for half a day, I’m behind again. It’s really that frantic. I can get a lot of work done sitting on a plane.”
Charlie Whiting died in Melbourne a few days before he was due to officiate in the Australian Grand Prix, the first race of the new Formula One season. He is survived by his second wife, Juliette, and their two young children.