FIA Safety Delegate

Any organization is, in truth, only as good as the people in it, and motor sport’s global governing body, the FIA, is no different. One of the men who help make a difference there is Englishman Charlie Whiting. Whiting started out in Club racing and worked his way into Formula One where he served with Bernie Ecclestone’s Brabham organization, helping guide Nelson Piquet to a pair of World Championships. As Ecclestone moved from team management into government, he needed to keep men he could trust around him, and one of those was Charlie Whiting who, as FIA Safety Delegate, is charged with guarding and advancing the safety of the sport. It was wearing that hat that he sat down with VR European Editor Mike Jiggle to discuss this month’s main topic—and his personal path to his present position.

Your early motor racing experiences were with your brother Nick in the All Car Equipe team. Nick did the driving, and you were the mechanic, was that something agreed upon?