F1 rule change demanded as FIA stewards slammed for "completely wrong" penalty

01 June 2023 , 18:52

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Guenther Steiner was left seething about a penalty handed to Nico Hulkenberg in Monaco (Image: Getty Images)

One Formula 1 team boss has called for the introduction of professional stewards amid concerns over consistency in decision-making.

The policing of the sport has been a hot topic of conversation ever since the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. It turned out to be Michael Masi's final event as race director as he was later axed for his "human error" which changed the outcome of the title race.

Last year, the role was shared by Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas. Despite some sympathy from teams and drivers over the fact they were inexperienced in F1, there were plenty of complaints over the course of the year that the rotation between races as leading to greater inconsistency.

Wittich is now in sole charge of the sport's race direction, but the stewards who rule on incidents and hand out penalties continue to rotate. Guenther Steiner called on this to change as he ranted to journalists in Barcelona about a penalty received by Nico Hulkenberg last weekend in Monaco.

"Good question!" he said sarcastically when asked what that punishment was handed out from. "I'm trying to find out because nobody can explain it to me. I mean, I was just doing emails at the moment and trying to look at pictures and I think there was no collision.

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"I just looked at the picture and Nico comes from the inside and is in front, basically, dives into the corner, but I can't see a collision. A collision is touching, no? That's what the definition is. We're still trying to find out, I'm still arguing it. Not arguing it but trying to get it explained because I think it was completely wrong.

"It's Lap 1, there was no collision, and what should we make, a parade? Because it's Monte Carlo, if you don't do this... [you don't overtake]. There are other people running into each other during the race and they get a black and white flag [not a penalty]. So I think it's very inconsistent.

Hulkenberg was penalised for an incident on the first lap of the Monaco race (HOCH ZWEI/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

"I looked at numerous pictures and I cannot see a collision. Somebody wants to tell me there is a collision, they have difficulty showing it. No, there is no collision. How can you be sure of a collision? And if you don't know if it is one or not, what is it then? Innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until I prove innocent. That is how a law works in my opinion."

He went on to suggest a fixed panel of stewards is needed in F1 to help improve decision-making and lead to more consistency. The Haas chief added: "Every professional sport has got professionals being referees and stuff like this. It's like, F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people that invest millions in their careers.

"It's always a discussion because there's no consistency. I don't want to blame any particular person on this, but if they're not all there all the time then this is just like a job every... It's not even a job because in a job you can get sacked, because you get paid, and if you do a bad job you get sacked. You cannot get sacked because you do not get paid. I think we need to step it up."

Daniel Moxon