Mercedes’ George Russell has renewed calls for permanent stewards in Formula 1, following controversial penalties during the United States Grand Prix.
Russell himself was penalised five seconds for forcing Valtteri Bottas’ Sauber wide at Turn 12, which Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff called “a joke.”
Moreover, Lando Norris was later penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 12 as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen carried both cars wide – a matter which McLaren has submitted a right of review.
“I thought my penalty was harsh, but probably correct,” Russell told select media including Motorsport Week on Thursday.
“Looking at Lando’s, I think that was probably correct as well, but Max should probably have got a penalty for running off the track.”
Russell, a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said a meeting with his peers after the Mexico City Grand Prix drivers’ briefing would be held to discuss penalties further.
Then, he and his peers will talk with the FIA regarding permanent stewards – reiterating a stance the Mercedes driver held post-race at the Circuit of the Americas.
“Between us, we’ll talk with the FIA and understand their viewpoint first,” Russell said.
“And then we can judge. At the end of the day, the stewards are doing the best job they can. They’re trying their hardest, and they do have a set of guidelines which they follow.
“We’ve spoken about consistency in the past, the only way you can have consistency is if you have the same stewards at every single race weekend.
“And at the moment, they are very experienced, but they are here as almost volunteers.
“It is not a professionally paid job, and if you look at football as an example, even though there is still controversy, a referee, they are professionals and that is their full-time job.
“As the sport we are at the moment, that’s probably the direction we should be heading.”
George Russell calls for financial fines to fund permanent stewards
The question of funding looms over the notion of paid full-time stewards and the FIA would need a compelling case to pursue this avenue.
On that front, Russell has a solution, using driver fines to fund race stewards – given he and his peers lack clarity regarding where those fines go.
“[The FIA] are governing the sport, and we need to have the best in the business, the same way as you’ve got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best designers,” Russell explained.
“We’re at a point now when you need to have the best stewarding, not only from a driving standpoint but on the technical side as well.
“I do appreciate it’s not easy, and that needs financing somewhere.
“Collectively, within from the drivers and the GPDA, we have asked about the financial fines, and where they are going as well because we have been asking for a bit of transparency on this front.
“It does seem a little bit ridiculous that if a driver gets a 50 grand fine for walking over a race track, but if that 50 grand fine is going towards financing the best stewards in the world, maybe we won’t be so upset about it.”
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