McLaren backs FIA over steward "bias" claim
Masi suggested a permanent steward would bring percieved bias
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has backed the FIA's stance on permanent race stewards after the controversy over consistency in decision making in recent races.
The battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the São Paulo Grand Prix raised concerns over inconsistency with the Red Bull driver escaping unpunished having pushed Hamilton wide at turn four to keep the lead.
This opposed penalties that were given to Lando Norris and Sergio Perez in Austria earlier in the campaign.
FIA race director Michael Masi indicated a rota of stewards was used to stay clear of any perceived "bias" being created over the course of a season when speaking after the Qatar Grand Prix.
“I don’t think that not having permanent stewards is the issue," said Seidl when asked if a permanent steward would clear up confusion.
"As far as I understand, whenever there is a case popping up, the first thing the stewards do is go back through the history of cases and see where there are precedents and check if it is comparable in order to be consistent.
“I understand also that after each race weekend there is a lot of exchanges with all the stewards in order to make sure everybody is on the same level of information and understanding.
“That is why I don’t think that this is the biggest issue we have to be honest.
“There is a reason why many people were also in favour in the past of having a rotating system of stewards, to make sure that there is no certain subjectivity of bias towards a certain team or driver and I think that is actually a good point.”
Related
More F1 news
Latest F1 news
Recommended by the editors
Goodwood Festival of Speed
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026: The F1 champions and star drivers taking on the hillclimb
F1 Analysis
Max Verstappen signs for McLaren and four other F1 silly season moves
Ferrari F1
British Grand Prix win was bad news for Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari as F1 title race gets spicy
Goodwood Festival of Speed
Goodwood Festival of Speed 2026: Start times, schedule and watch live
Races
-
Grand Prix of Australia 2026
-
Grand Prix of China 2026
-
Grand Prix of Japan 2026
-
Grand Prix of Bahrain 2026
-
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2026
-
Miami Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix du Canada 2026
-
Grand Prix De Monaco 2026
-
Gran Premio de Barcelona-Catalunya 2026
-
Grand Prix of Austria 2026
-
Grand Prix of Great Britain 2026
-
Grand Prix of Belgium 2026
-
Grand Prix of Hungary 2026
-
Dutch Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix of Italy 2026
-
Gran Premio de España 2026
-
Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2026
-
Grand Prix of Singapore 2026
-
Grand Prix of the United States 2026
-
Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2026
-
Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2026
-
Las Vegas Grand Prix 2026
-
Qatar Grand Prix 2026
-
Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2026
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Editorial & corporate information
Avenue HQ
10–12 East Parade
Leeds
LS1 2BH
United Kingdom Regional correspondence
View contact page