Formula One race director

Born: August 12, 1952;

Died: 14 March 14, 2019

CHARLIE Whiting, who has died aged 66, was Formula One’s long-serving race director and one of the most influential people in the sport.

Whiting’s entry into Formula One came as part of the Hesketh Racing team in 1977, but it was through his work at Brabham that he made his name.

As chief mechanic for the outfit owned by Bernie Ecclestone, he played an integral role in the championships won by Nelson Piquet in 1981 and 1983.

After leaving Brabham in 1988, he moved on to serve as FIA technical delegate and then became FIA director and safety delegate from 1997. Within this role, he was responsible for starting races as well as being the man teams would speak to about a variety of matters over the race weekend.

A fascination with motorsport stemmed from his youth, when he spent evenings and school holidays fixing up cars with his brother Nick in Kent.

Passion and vocation led to the opening foray into Formula One in 1977 working for Hesketh Racing, the start of more than four decades in the sport. Hesketh - which gave James Hunt his first drive in F1 - would go on to fold in 1978, and Whiting went on to join Brabham, then owned by Bernie Ecclestone.

Whiting rose through the ranks of the team and in the sport and would go on to serve as chief mechanic for Nelson Piquet at his championship successes in 1981 and 1983 and later chief mechanic for the team.

When Ecclestone sold the team, the lure of the poacher-turned-gamekeeper transition proved too strong and Whiting took up a role within the sport's governing body, the FIA, eventually becoming race director in 1997.

Over the last two decades, Whiting essentially became the sport's lead referee, analysing incidents, detecting wrongdoing and taking a lead in promoting safety within the sport.

Fairness and safety were key to Whiting, so often referred to as Charlie within the paddock and over the radio, particularly when drivers thought an incident warranted further investigation. He would rigorously inspect circuits, checking a range of new circuits on the GP calendar for suitability, as well as looking at how safety could be improved within the car. He is credited with being among those who backed the introduction of the halo device, which helped Charles Leclerc avoid serious injury after a huge accident at last year's Belgian Grand Prix.

With more than 400 Grands Prix under his belt, Whiting was part and parcel of the sport. Speaking about his role in 2017 to Top Gear magazine, he said: "I still love it. The buzz is extraordinary. "It's rare I find myself thinking 'well, this is boring'."

FIA president Jean Todt said Whiting had been a central and inimitable figure in Formula One who embodied the ethics and spirit of the sport. “Formula 1 has lost a faithful friend and a charismatic ambassador in Charlie,” he said.

Ross Brawn, Formula 1 managing director of motorsports, said he had known Charlie Whiting for all of his racing life. “We worked as mechanics together, became friends and spent so much time together at race tracks across the world. It is a great loss not only for me personally but also the entire Formula 1 family.”

Whiting suffered a pulmonary embolism in Melbourne where he was due to officiate the curtain-raiser of the new season.