Max Verstappen: F1 stewards are inconsistent... but that's fine

Max Verstappen

Verstappen: F1 stewards are inconsistent... but that's fine

Max says it's a bit like football...

Matthew Scott

Saturday 28 December 2019 14:00

Max Verstappen is happy to accept the inconsistencies between stewards' decisions in Formula 1, but says that some rules should be rewritten to avoid controversy.

Verstappen is no stranger to the stewards' room, having been involved in a number of scrapes in F1, while he spent a day with Formula E stewards early in 2019 as part of his punishment for an incident with Esteban Ocon at the Brazilian GP the year before.

The Dutchman kept hold of his victory in Austria this year after a lengthy investigation over his race-winning move on Charles Leclerc, something which was seen as heralding in a new 'let them race' era of officiating in F1.

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However, the Red Bull driver expects some different stewards may look unfairly on similar incidents in the future, something he has happy to put down to different stewards having different standards.

"It's the same in football, isn't it? You have different refs and some give a yellow card easier than others. It's the same like that," he told Motorsport.com.

"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.

"That's also fine. When you're on the wrong side of the penalty it's always bad, unless you really did something bad and you can accept it.

"But when it's 50/50 and you get the penalty, you're always going to question it.

"It's very hard for them [stewards]. I mean, I've been in the [stewards'] room and experienced them handing penalties out.

"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."