Formula 1 stewards have one of the toughest jobs in the championship, as they must adjudicate decisions for incidents on track.
The FIA stewards are made up of four people with three that rotate on a race-by-race basis, including one driver steward and a local national steward. They work voluntarily, although there is growing support for F1 to have permanent stewards given the amount of inconsistent decisions that can be made when penalties are handed out.
Eddie Jordan criticised the stewards for not penalising Carlos Sainz during the Las Vegas Grand Prix when he bailed out of coming into the pit lane after passing the white line. As there was no bollard to indicate pit entry had begun, Sainz was free to leave the track and rejoin – albeit in an unsafe manner.
Jos Verstappen has also criticised FIA driver steward Johnny Herbert for his ‘British bias’ against his son, although Damon Hill later said that Herbert has the ‘right to an opinion’ after comments made in the media by the former Sky Sports pundit.
Discussing whether the FIA should have permanent stewards after a series of penalties for Max Verstappen this year, his father believes the governing body should look at FIFA as an example when speaking to Formule1.nl.
Jos Verstappen explains why Formula 1 should have permanent stewards
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem has previously stated that having permanent stewards would be too expensive for the governing body, but Verstappen feels it would lead to more consistent outcomes.
“It would help if there was a permanent pool of stewards. And no more former F1 drivers, just people who have more distance and fewer [business] interests, but who at the same time understand what the sport entails,” said Verstappen.
“With the same stewards every time, you will also get more of the same decisions. More consistency, that’s just better. It’s the FIA’s turn. You have to take a step further in terms of professionalism.
“Choose a pool of regular stewards and pay and value them well. Now they get a small amount to be in a race and some do it because they can use the money. You should find people who are not dependent on that at all. In football, you have FIFA referees, who receive training and courses and are well-paid. That should be done in F1, of course. In this area, the FIA can still learn a lot from FIFA.”
Why doesn’t the FIA have permanent stewards?
If F1 wants more consistency in the way on-track incidents are dealt with, introducing permanent FIA stewards could help.
At the moment, the stewards are supported by a comprehensive database of past incidents and decisions which allows easy access to precedents.
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There has previously been resistance to permanent stewards because of fears that it would create a perceived bias, however, the main issue would be the costs involved.
Employing the same four people for 24 race weekends would require travel expenses to and from races, as well as accommodation costs. Although F1 generates a lot of income for the FIA, it would likely view this as an unnecessary expense given the current system works without too many issues.
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