FIA Double Standards on Penalties: An Explanation by a Steward
12/29/2024 02:54 PM
The rotation of stewards and the inconsistency in judgment when assigning penalties has been a longstanding issue in Formula 1.
Given the many, perhaps too many, similar incidents that are often judged differently from one race to another, many have called for the appointment of a single panel of stewards to assess situations during Grands Prix. However, this proposal has never been seriously considered.
So why continue with the rotation, fueling ongoing controversies, instead of appointing four permanent stewards for every race of the season?
According to Johnny Herbert, who served as a steward at several events this year, one of the reasons may be economic: "Should there be a commissioner for every single race? Can this or all four be debated in the same way? Yes, it can be discussed," the former driver told PlanetF1.
"But it's a matter of time. We don't get paid much for this. We earn $300 a day or something like that, so it's very little."
"At that point, it turns into a real job, where you commit to a season, for 20 or more races, for example. So, it's very, very different from this point of view."
Despite Toto Wolff harshly criticizing the stewards after the penalty received by George Russell, Johnny Herbert does not believe the decision-making process differs significantly despite the rotations: "Every time I sat with the other stewards, we all had a very similar mindset."
"I think that's why consistency seems to be the best overall, and it's difficult to try to put together the right ingredients to maintain it."
"We all come from very different places. Two of us are English, but there's also a Brazilian and an Italian. We all have different ways, sometimes, of dealing with certain situations. It seems we have a calm workforce that works very, very well."
"A driver will always have his opinion, and so will the teams. Everyone comes in with their own thoughts and explanations about what's happening. That's where we have to try to figure out what's going on. Sometimes it's not easy, sometimes it seems tough, but then fairness and consistency must come into play at the same time."
"Every time you try to fit everything into a certain incident, it becomes a sort of category, but they're not all the same within that category because they're all different. Every weekend there's something different, and that's why the situation has become more consistent. We all seem to be on the same wavelength, and that's something that works very well at the moment."
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