Formula One's long-serving and widely respected race director Charlie Whiting died suddenly in Melbourne Thursday, leaving a "huge void in the sport" just days before the opening Grand Prix of the season. The 66-year-old Briton, who had been at the helm since 1997 and was in charge of everything rules-related in the highly technical sport, suffered a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot.

"It is with immense sadness that I learned of Charlie's sudden passing," FIA president Jean Todt said in a statement. "I have known Charlie Whiting for many years and he has been a great race director, a central and inimitable figure in Formula One who embodied the ethics and spirit of this fantastic sport," he said. "Formula 1 has lost a faithful friend and a charismatic ambassador in Charlie," he added. Whiting began his F1 career in 1977 working at the Hesketh team, then in the 1980s at Brabham. He became an integral part of organising the world championship after joining the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile in 1988.