Christian Horner critical of "very complicated" F1 rules as Lewis Hamilton "bias" claim dismissed

Red Bull

Horner critical of "very complicated" F1 rules as Hamilton "bias" claim dismissed

Hamilton claimed "some" FIA stewards are too friendly with some drivers

Sam Hall

Wednesday 23 February 2022 19:00

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has criticised the F1 sporting regulations for leaving too much "room for interpretation" while dismissing Lewis Hamilton's suggestion of "bias" among the FIA stewards.

Both Red Bull and Mercedes are keen to draw a line under the 2021 season and all the controversies that came with it but questions surrounding the consistency of stewarding decisions were again raised during Wednesday's media briefings at pre-season testing.

Speaking ahead of the team principal's session, Hamilton outlined his concerns suggesting that some stewards "are very very good friends with certain individuals" and that the sport needed "non-biased stewards".

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Reacting to Hamilton's claims, Horner stated: "I certainly don’t think that there was any bias from stewards during the last seasons.

“I think a lot of issues are to do with the regulations themselves because you’ve got very complicated regulations that then leave room for interpretation and the circuit limits one is an obvious one.

“In any other sport, being over a white line, you’re out. In F1 you have a situation where we are currently where some corners it’s ok, some corners it isn’t and that, for the fans and even for the teams and for the drivers, is confusing.

“So what you need is clear rules which are then easier to police."

Both Max Verstappen and Hamilton were on the receiving end of penalties that they did not feel were justified in their title fight last year.

“We’ve all been on the receiving end of stewards’ decisions that we’ve been unhappy about," Horner continued.

"I would agree with [Mercedes team principal] Toto [Wolff] that I don’t think there is an intended bias. I’m not aware of any stewards travelling with any drivers to races.

“In Mohammed [Ben Sulayem], we have a new [FIA] president that is looking to bolster the structure and to bring in the equivalent of a VAR, something that certainly the top teams have available to them.

“And I think giving a better infrastructure for clearer decisions with clearer regulations is something that should be strived for.

"But I certainly don’t think that there was any bias from stewards during the last seasons.”