George Russell reckons one-race suspension for FIA steward Derek Wawrick is fine from officials, but anything more would be too much for non-offensive remark.
Ahead of the F1 Canadian GP, behind the scenes, the FIA replaced Warwick with Enrique Bernoldi as the steward for the weekend in Montreal. The latter was mentioned in the race director’s note but on Friday evening, the governing body released information about the change they did pre-weekend.
The FIA stated that Warwick made ‘unauthorised comments’ in the media after the Spanish GP. Like many others, he gave an interview to a betting site, from where the quotes were picked up by various media sites. He duly apologised for the comments, which is why he will return to officiate in Austrian GP.
As a GPDA director, Russell reckoned the one-race suspension was enough for Warwick. He felt the comments were not offensive to cause big issues and anything more than one race would have been bad. “We’re obviously all open to have our own views,” said Mercedes driver Russell.
“I think what Derek said—I don’t think it probably offended anybody. Hence why we’re going to see him back. Principally, I think these days every word you say gets scrutinised, and that’s just the nature of the game we’re in. We also have to remember the stewards are volunteers.
“They don’t make an income from stewarding. They have a life outside of Formula 1 as well. We all speak to media in the paddock. So, yeah, if it was anything more than his sort of temporary—not ban—but his temporary avoidance of stewarding this weekend, I think anything more than that would’ve been a bit OTT. So yeah.”
Here’s FIA on Derek Warwick
Here’s George Russell after qualifying