Max Verstappen Calls Out F1 Stewards for Inconsistency in Penalties

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has observed that the FIA stewards have often been inconsistent when dishing out penalties. However, he confessed that that he was willing to overlook them, but feels that some rules need to be rewritten to avoid controversy.

Verstappen has often been present in the stewards’ room owing to some on-track misconduct, particularly in the 2018 season. In fact, he spent a day with Formula E stewards in early 2019 for an incident with Esteban Ocon at the 2018 Brazilian GP.

In another incident, the Dutchman was hauled up once again for a gutsy move on Charles Leclerc to win the Austrian Grand Prix. Luckily he escaped any punishment after a lengthy investigation, and he kept his race win. This was likely seen as F1 adopting a tactic of letting the drivers race each other without interference.

However, the Red Bull driver believes that not all stewards are cut from the same cloth and may look unfairly on similar incidents in the future.

Speaking to Motorsport.com he mused,  “Of course, you know, it’s a rulebook. But then still the stewards have a little bit of a say of what you’re actually going to apply. When you go into like a Champions League match or a Premier League match, the ref can be different. It’s exactly the same, I think, in Formula 1.”

Max Verstappen knew that if a decision went against a driver, it was obviously not a good feeling, but if they did then they had to accept the consequences. However, in a 50/50 situation an imposed penalty was always going to be questioned.

He concluded, “It’s not easy for them. They also don’t want to give penalties. Sometimes they just have to, the way the rules are written as well. We can maybe look into easing some of the penalties, or just write them in a different way into the rulebook.”