MotoGP will introduce a new stewards' panel which will be independent of race direction following a controversial decision to penalise Valentino Rossi after his clash with Marc Marquez during the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The addition of three points to Rossi's existing penalty points tally meant he was forced to start the title-deciding Valencia GP from the back of the grid, all but ruling him out of the title fight.
During a meeting of the Grand Prix Commission on Friday, the decision was taken to split race direction and stewarding matters in the hope of avoiding future controversy.
"We want to let race direction focus on managing the races because there are a lot of responsibilities and delicate matters to do," said Vito Ippolito, president of governing body FIM.
"We want to let them be free to manage the race but not to involve them anymore with the task of penalising riders. It needs more time and special dedication.
"On the other side we will have the panel of three stewards," he explained. "It will be the current race director who is Mike Webb and two more stewards from the FIM.
"One of them possibily also a permanent steward as we think with this structure, with this panel of stewards completely dedicated to judge the behaviour of riders during the races and practice, we can achieve a very high level of decisions."
During the meeting, it was also decided that tyre sensors should become mandatory following Loris Baz's dramatic high-speed crash during testing in Sepang, which saw his rear-tyre fail, throwing him off his bike. He escaped unharmed.
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