Over the past twelve months the FIA has come under heavy criticism for decisions made by its part time race stewards. The drivers united in their public calls for the standard of stewarding to be improved in an open letter they sent to Formula One’s governing body last November.
The GPDA also criticised the alleged “childish” treatment of their drivers, along with the weekly fines handed out, which they feel has a negative impact on the image of the sport. The Drivers also called for the FIA to hire full time permanent stewards instead of relying on a rotating volunteer panel of amateurs.
The FIA president was swift to respond. “It’s very nice talk. But when they say professional, and they want professional, they don’t want to pay for it. That is so obvious. They talk and then they say: ‘Where are you putting the money? Why we don’t do this?’ But I don’t say, ‘Oh, sorry, what about you?’ The drivers are getting over $100million. Do I ask where they spend it? No, it’s up to them. It’s their right.”
Hamilton penalty after he returns home
Once again the quality of the stewarding is being questioned by the drivers following Lewis Hamilton’s five-place grid drop for Ferrari’s home race at Monza handed down for an offence which took place before the start of the Dutch Grand Prix. Lewis was guilty of failing to slow sufficiently for yellow flags on the way to the grid but the stewards opted not to issue a penalty during the race, instead postponing Hamilton’s punishment to Ferrari’s home race in Monza.
Hamilton was placed under investigation for failing to slow sufficiently under double-waved yellows during the pre-race reconnaissance laps at Zandvoort. The incident was noted before the formation lap, but stewards opted to investigate only after the race had finished. By the time Hamilton had returned home, he was informed of a five-place penalty for Monza.
“I landed back home and then saw that I got this penalty, and I was really, really shocked, to be honest,” Hamilton said in an FIA approved press conference. “But it is what it is. To get the penalty and get penalty points was pretty hardcore, but I learned from it, and there’s no point whinging about it. I’ll move forwards.”
Penalty deserved says e-F1 driver
Ex-Formula One driver and Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok believes the sanction itself was justified, though he admitted to being baffled by why it was applied so late. “A very unusual penalty, something we haven’t really seen before,” Chandhok explained. “He was on his way to the grid, 30 minutes before the start of the grand prix. Now in the Race Director’s notes for the weekend, they were all told that there will be a double waved yellow flag through the banked Turn 14. So the drivers need to slow down and be prepared to stop.
“And that’s because as we come around the corner at full speed, look at that line of people – you’ve got mechanics, you’ve got camera crews, got all sorts of people standing on the track, and look at the speed that Lewis came charging past them into the pit lane. So I think it was right to penalise Lewis.”
Hamilton argued that he did lift, “but not enough to their liking.” The stewards acknowledged this, noting that the standard penalty would have been 10 places, but reduced it to five. For Chandhok, the real puzzle was why the matter wasn’t resolved before or during the race itself. “Where I’m a little bit confused is the timing of it, because it was investigated after the race and the penalty was given to Lewis when he was on his way home, or at home.
Questions arise why the penalty was not issued in Zandvoort
“Now the bit that is confusing for me is all of this information should have been available before the grand prix. The teams all have live telemetry data. The FIA have access to live telemetry data straight off the car. So what I don’t really understand is why this wasn’t looked at before the grand prix, why Lewis wasn’t given the penalty during the Dutch Grand Prix.”
This would have meant no five place penalty being carried over to Monza, where Chandhok notes the penalty is severe at the Italian GP where it “really can be damaging for your race.”
Only in Formula One could a driver be penalised for something he did on the way to the grid, then told about it after he had flown home. Hamilton’s “crime” was charging past mechanics and camera crews with a lift of the throttle barely visible on telemetry — hardly the kind of “track limits” anyone expected to enforce.
Data driven sport fails to act quickly
For the FIA, however, the optics of ignoring a breach in a zone full of personnel would have been indefensible. The strange part is not the penalty itself, but the paperwork shuffle that delayed the decision by several hours. If there is one thing Formula One is never short of, it is data. Yet somehow, a breach recorded on live telemetry became an after-race homework assignment.
Hamilton now faces Ferrari’s home weekend handicapped by an infringement that had nothing to do with his crash at Zandvoort, nor his performance in Italy. If F1 is supposed to be unpredictable, perhaps the stewards are simply doing their part.
Hamilton responded by topping the time sheets in practice one in Monza although he was just under two tenths from Lando Norris pace in the afternoon. Ferrari build their season around ensuring their cars are best adapted to the Cathedral of Speed. Whilst the McLaren of Lando Norris was quickest on Saturday morning, Charles Leclerc’s late run saw him just half a tenth behind. Hamilton was back in seventh around a quarter of a second slower than his team mate.
Oscar Piastri was forced to sit out the first practice session as the team fulfilled their mandatory requirement of putting their reserve driver Alex Dunne in the car for the second of his FP1’s for the year.
“What an idiot”: Verstappen fires back at Perez camp
Sergio Perez will return to the Formula One grid for his sixteenth season of racing since his debut in 2011 for Sauber. His big break came following the announcement in 2012 that Lewis Hamilton was leaving the McLaren team for Mercedes and Checo was recruited as his replacement.
Perez quickly developed a reputation for aggressive driving with his team mate Jenson Button criticising his race craft after the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. “I’ve raced with many team-mates over the years and with quite an aggressive team-mate in Lewis, but I’m not used to driving down the straight and then my team-mate coming along and wiggling his wheels at me and banging wheels with me at 300km/h. I’ve had some tough fights in F1 but not quite as dirty as that. “
His McLaren career lasted just one season and the Mexican driver left to join the Silverstone based Force India team for 2014. Yet it was following the announcement he would be leaving the team at the end of the 2020 season, when he claimed his maiden F1 victory in the Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
