F1 drivers and team bosses discuss about diversity among FIA officials and even bias to certain extent where there is opposing sentiments.
With Michael Masi dropped as the FIA race director and the hiring of two people – Eduardo Freitas and Neils Wittich – the F1 community is moving into the 2022 season with a fresh start. But with of them being males, Lewis Hamilton hopes if the trend of two directors continue, it will be good to have a male and a female one.
In fact, he’s called for greater diversity in not only the race director panel but also the stewards. Additionally, he reckons there needs to be greater scrutiny in stewards selection, where he hinted on certain members who tend to be close to certain drivers and or teams.
Interestingly, his Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff didn’t agree with him along with Red Bull’s Christian Horner. As for other drivers, though, they spoke more on consistent decision making, whether it is from the race directors and or stewards.
Here’s what the F1 drivers said:
Lewis Hamilton: “I want to see more women in the stewards’ room. I think last year it was maybe one or two. It would be awesome for them to have a male and female as the two race directors that they’re talking about doing. I think that’s a great way of promoting diversity too. Also, I just want to add, we need to make sure we get non-biased stewards too. Race drivers, some are very, very good friends with certain individuals, some travel with certain individuals and tend to take more of a keen liking to some of them.”
Nicholas Latifi: “Last year it was clear with some of the racing actions with some of the drivers it wasn’t always the most consistent calls. Sometimes a driver gets away with forcing another driver off the track without a penalty, other times it involved a penalty. Obviously there’s some changes now in the FIA the race directors, putting in place new measures, we’re talking about this new virtual assistant to race control. So I think there’s going to be a process to hopefully improve the consistency. I’m sure in terms of what is and isn’t allowed maybe at the first drivers meeting I’m sure there’ll be some chats amongst us all to try and get some clarification on that so we know from race one what’s allowed and what’s not.”
Daniel Ricciardo: “Probably amongst all of us drivers, we’re probably in line with what we think is the way to go racing. But there will still be a bit of a difference also in what’s forcing and what’s not. So even between us, it’s not always that straightforward. Not an easy job, but if there is at least that kind of consistency that’s all we can ask, and then we know a little bit better what’s right from wrong.”
Sergio Perez: “I think it is on the nature of our sport, its not like football where everything is a lot clearer. Here, every incident is different and it is difficult for the Stewards to make a decision but I think as long as we can have consistency in the Stewards or have them more them more consistently in the races, the same people and I think we also have to support the new Race Director who comes in because it obviously takes time and because of the nature of our Sport, it is always a debate, it is never straightforward.”
Guanyu Zhou: “Well, I think in general, motor sport…I think F2 last year was quite consistent and that is the key, especially with decisions but like the others all ready mentioned, our sport is never easy to be that consistent because all the actions will be taking place or slightly different but you know as a driver all is ask is to keep it consistent when we set the rules and I think we can still race hard and race clean.”
Here’s what couple of F1 team bosses said:
Toto Wolff: “I think we need professionalism in the Stewards room. I don’t think there is a conscious bias to be honest. Its intelligent people but most important is we talk about the Race direction, the support that they will have back at base or the Stewards. There needs to be a standard, this is what we deserve and what everybody expects. There are some very good people that we can build upon, most important and we talked about last year is the topic of inconsistence and there shouldn’t be a lot of room to interpret the rules. There should not be a lot of leniency depending on a potential outcome should be but the rules are the rules and I think as everything is being restructured that going forward we will optimise all the structures.”
Christian Horner: “I think a lot of issues are to do with the regulations themselves because you have got very complicated regulations that leave room for interpretation. The circuits one is an obvious one because in any other sport being over a white line, you are out and you have a situation like we have currently where some corners it is ok and others it is not. I think that for the fans, for the teams and for the drivers it is confusing so what you need is clear rules and then it is easier to police. We have all been on the receiving end of decisions we have been unhappy about.
“I would agree with Toto that I don’t believe there is an intended bias. I’m not aware of any Stewards travelling with Drivers to races and in Mohammed we have a new President who is looking to bolster the structure to bring in the equivalent of a VAR, something that certainly the top teams have available to them and I think given a better infrastructure for clearer decisions with clearer regulations is something that should be strived for but I certainly don’t think there was any bias from Stewards during the last seasons.”
[The transcript was done by Neil Farrell]
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