Zak Brown has joined those calling for full-time stewards in Formula 1, believing the sport has become ‘over-ruled’ in the amount of racing regulations.

The McLaren CEO admitted this is an issue of the sport’s own making, but believes the FIA having full-time stewards in place will iron out “inconsistencies” in place.

Zak Brown calls for full-time stewards in ‘too many inconsistencies’ verdict

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem claimed in December that the sport’s governing body “don’t have the money” to employ full-time stewards, with stewards currently paid by covering their expenses.

A series of on-track incidents were punished by the stewards in 2024 involving Brown’s title-challenging driver in Lando Norris, who was handed a time penalty in Austin after overtaking Max Verstappen off the circuit, while the Red Bull driver was given two 10-second penalties for his defence and subsequent attack on Norris the following round in Mexico.

Further changes to overtaking rules are being made for the 2025 season to make even clearer what is and is not acceptable in combat between drivers, but Brown hopes to see these instances become more “subjective” again.

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With that, the McLaren CEO added his voice to those wanting to see a full-time stewarding panel put in place at races – though pointed out the perceived inconsistency in place now is not the fault of those overseeing the races now.

“I think we need to take a step back in the winter,” Brown told Channel 4.

“We have too many penalties, we have too many inconsistencies.

“I think we all recognise we need full-time stewarding. I don’t blame the stewards, but I don’t think they’re set up for success, so we need full-time stewards.

“I also think, and we’ve got no-one but ourselves to blame, whether it’s the teams, the drivers – we’ve over-ruled, like, everything – so now, it’s like, literally the race to the apex.

“So I think we just need to take step back and be a bit more subjective, discretionary and a little bit of common sense when some of these penalties are applied.”

McLaren will head into the new season as the reigning Constructors’ Champions, having won their first teams’ crown since 1998.

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