FIA announce abrupt suspension at Canadian Grand Prix

The FIA has announced the suspension of a race steward ahead of this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

Derek Warwick was due to be among the stewards for the race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, but the sport's governing body has made the decision to suspend the former British racing driver with immediate effect following recent comments he made to the media.

Explaining the decision, an FIA statement read: "Following recent unauthorised media comments, the FIA has taken the decision to suspend Derek Warwick from his duties as driver steward for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix,"

"He will be replaced by Enrique Bernoldi who will be officiating from the Remote Operations Centre in Geneva for the remainder of the event.

"After discussion, Derek acknowledges that his comments were ill-advised in his role as an FIA steward and has apologized.

"Derek will resume his duties as a steward in the forthcoming Austrian Grand Prix."

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What did Derek Warwick say to the media?

Warwick had provided quotes to a betting company that were then sent on to a handful of media outlets, allowing them to use the quotes with credit to the gambling site(s).

In a similar vein to Johnny Herbert, the FIA has acknowledged that this crosses the line in his role as an active F1 steward to be commenting on drivers participating in races that he will have some say over whether or not they get a penalty.

Warwick has been an active FIA race steward for several years, but is only picked to steward certain races in rotation with other FIA personnel.

On Verstappen's controversial collision with Russell, Warwick said to Plejmo: "Should he have done what he did at turn five with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for it? Yes. He got a 10-second time penalty and 3 penalty points, which now puts him within one point of a race ban.

"Some people compare it to Vettel, who got a 10-second drive-through penalty in Baku for deliberately making contact with Lewis Hamilton. But if you look at the footage carefully, you can see that Max - although he made a late attempt to overtake - then steered away from George. It's just that the speed carried him into George anyway.

"I'm not condoning it, I'm not saying it was right - it was absolutely wrong, and the FIA ​​were right to give a penalty.

"Should the punishment have been more severe? I actually think they were spot on," Warwick continued. "Some people think he should have been suspended, as an example to young karters, and that is understandable. But I think the punishment is appropriate.

"You have to judge each incident on its own merits, this was very questionable, it is not the kind of action I like to see. I am doing Canada this weekend, so I think I will be busy," he concluded, confirming his involvement in Montreal.

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