As is the case in any sport, the men responsible for enforcing the laws often get a hard time. That is certainly true in Formula 1 with the panel of FIA stewards regularly at the centre of attention, sometimes making decisions that can decide races and yes, championships.
For 2017 a slightly altered system was introduced whereby an incident was noted before decided if it should be investigated by the stewards. At the same time, there was a request for a little more leniency to be shown with the penalties given, compared to previous years. This came out of the belief that many penalties were given for minor incidents and this was actually discouraging drivers from making aggressive passes out of fear of making contact.
The question is, are the stewards still in control of the races, or has this leniency been taken to an extreme where, at some occasions, the drivers are forcing the stewards to make certain decisions?
Going back to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a race that will be remembered for years; three cases took place, all of which had an impact on the action on track and one, which is still unresolved, you can guess which one that is!
The first came on a busy Friday that saw two incidents requiring a red flag at Turn 8. Sergio Perez and Jolyon Palmer both bit the wall and the Mexican, in particular, complained about the narrow corner and how it represented a challenge for the wider cars. On Friday evening, a decision was announced informing that changes will occur on Saturday at Turn 8, removing the high kerb. Was this the right decision and was it really help avoid crashes?
What makes the F1 driver an elite driver if they will not be up to such challenges? Why would the stewards decide to deprive the audience of watching the drivers cope with the challenge? Did it really help in the safety area, since the cars were then entering at higher speeds or was it just a matter of finding more grip on Saturday and Sunday?
Moving on to race day, the stewards deployed a Safety Car to clean the track of debris that was spread at that time from numerous incidents. During that period, Fernando Alonso was heard on the radio requesting a red flag claiming it was too dangerous with the speeds on the main straight, a few moments later, the red flag was shown.
Everyone agrees that safety is a priority and no one would enjoy seeing any driver being injured but aren’t the stewards supplied with all audio-visual and communication technologies to be able to make the perfect decisions? Do the stewards really need Alonso’s request to raise a red flag? Or was it another moment of compliance to drivers’ will?
Finally, the main incident on Sunday that is yet to be over is the now infamous Sebastian Vettel/ Lewis Hamilton collision. The race leaders at that point and championship leaders as well were involved in a chaotic moment awaiting the race restart, Vettel collided with Hamilton from behind after, according to the German, Hamilton brake tested him.
With the known character of Vettel and his emotional approach to his racing life, the four-time world champion came alongside the Mercedes driver and intentionally collided with Hamilton wheel to wheel.
The stewards investigated the incident and Vettel was given a 10-second stop and go penalty, the second harshest available with a black flag disqualification the next biggest available.
Hamilton would later describe this as insufficient as a problem with the three-time champion’s headrest would actually see the Briton finish behind the championship leader. This was because his time lost in the pits was equivalent if not more than that Vettel lost as a result of his penalty.
Three points were also added to Vettel’s super-license, put him just three short of a guaranteed race ban, now, though, the FIA has announced a second investigation into what occurred to decide whether additional penalties are to be added with a possible race exclusion being discussed.
There has been so much media scrutiny that is this decision purely a sporting one? Let’s not forget too, if a more severe sanction is given, a race ban or more, it could prevent the audience from watching one of the best title battles in years, is that good for F1?
The stewards have always been referees to look up to and always had their decisions decided with no interference from anyone, let us hope the above is just a misinterpreted events by the viewers and the stewards will help in controlling one of the best F1 seasons in the best way possible.