FIA stewards support emerges in behind-the-scenes insight after US GP controversy

To legions of motor sport fans he is the arbiter, the final word on Formula One’s most contentious moments.

Armed with his SkyPad, Anthony Davidson is the former F1 driver tasked with analysing key incidents and delivering the definitive verdict.

Anthony Davidson ‘would hate being a steward’

He was at it last Sunday in Austin, talking the Sky Sports F1 audience through Lando Norris’ controversial lap-52 pass of title rival Max Verstappen which, ultimately, shaped the podium at the US Grand Prix.

Davidson’s forensic analysis, allied to his understanding of how the stewards think, led him to conclude that although both cars left the track the McLaren driver was more at fault and, thus, his five-second penalty consistent with previous cases.

“Brilliant”, was the broad consensus on X (which Davidson would not have seen as he steers clear of social media). “Anyone ‘confused’ by the incident, watch.”

Back home in the UK, the 45-year old is keen to dial down any suggestion that his is the definitive take – empathising with the job of stewards who, in Texas, were accused of bias by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

“When I give my opinions I’m only basing it on the 34 years I’ve had behind the wheel,” he says. “It’s not like it should be definitive, it’s not like I’m the oracle.

“I’m not the one handing out penalties. When I’m on the SkyPad doing my thing it’s just my opinion. I’m always surprised people see me as the end point in any sort of discussion.”

Davidson admits that sometimes his can be an “uncomfortable” job but reiterates that he is only offering up an opinion and others are completely entitled to theirs.

“I would hate being a steward, I would hate that responsibility,” he adds. “I sit down with many racing drivers and we can have many differences of opinion based on you’re own racing style and how you saw the moment.

“It’s always harder when you’re in the car. These guys don’t have the chance to stop it, rewind, look from a different angle. They’re in the moment. It’s very fast, blink of an eye, all the action’s happened, done.

“Whatever the outcome is in that moment you get on with it. You park it and get on with doing the best you can to get the best result.

“Maybe afterwards you’ll look at it, analyse it, but it’s done, you can’t change it. For the stewards it’s very different. It’s very difficult.”

However, he explains, there is a racing framework of dos and don’ts which the stewards have sat down and agreed with the drivers and the teams.

“That is something I think some people on the outside, who have never raced or who have but in different categories, don’t fully understand,” Davidson says.

“The stewards have basically tried to come up with this blueprint, almost like they’re a computer looking at this situation, and you go through a tick box exercise. Did this happen? Yes. Did that happen? No. Okay, the result is X or Y.

“And when you look at it through their framework – like the last one in Austin – you can’t argue with it. Because the rules are written down and it’s quite plain to see.

“That doesn’t mean that my racing brain agrees with the moment, but it can agree with certain decisions the stewards make based on their framework.”

What Davidson does certainly favour is the stewards’ practise of making decisions in-race, rather than allowing a final judgement to drag on long past the chequered flag.

“I’m glad it’s not like Mexico a few years ago,” he said referring to 2016 when Verstappen was stripped of third place almost as he walked to the podium. Sebastian Vettel was promoted only to lose it even later to Daniel Ricciardo.

“That was ridiculous, we can’t be doing that,” says Davidson. “Or, even worse, the result being different from the decision the fans thought they saw on the day.

“I think fans can all agree (in-race calls are) definitely better than giving up your Sunday afternoon to watch a race that basically wasn’t the result it ended up being.”

Learn more about Formula 1’s governing body the FIA

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👉 Who is Mohammed Ben Sulayem? Everything you need to know about the FIA president

Davidson has come a long way since being introduced to the sport as a boy by his F1-loving father.

“I was weaned on Murray Walker and James Hunt,” he recalls. “Sitting down sucking my thumb as a young kid watching the grand prix on TV at home every Sunday.”

As an eighth birthday present he was taken go-karting and he did not look back, making it all the way to F1 despite “my family being normal” in terms of financial means.

“I am proud of that,” adds the man who raced 24 times in F1 for Minardi, BAR and Super Aguri before turning to, and winning, the World Endurance championship and, more recently, taking the wheel of the Mercedes’ F1 simulator.

He once suggested he probably was not ‘nasty enough’ to be successful in F1. Does he remember saying that?

“Inside the car I was but outside probably not,” he nods. “I was always a hard racer, I think any driver that ever raced against me would testify to that. But outside of the car probably not hard enough.

“It’s a very cut throat business and if you’re not that way inclined it can be a sport that can swallow you up.

“It’s not like nice people can’t win in the sport. They certainly can. Once the visor was down I became something else. It almost felt like my super power, being inside the car with my helmet on.

“But there were moments in my career where it would have helped to be a little more sure of myself outside the car, a little more bullish, a little more demanding.”

The Formula 1 title run-in continues. Watch the whole weekend at the Mexico GP live on Sky Sports F1 & NOW.

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