Horner disagrees with Hamilton steward claims

Henry Valantine 24 Feb 2022 9:00 AM

Christian Horner has his head down. Barcelona February 2022.

Christian Horner believes “complicated regulations” are to blame for stewarding inconsistency in Formula 1, rather than Lewis Hamilton’s thought that some drivers have stronger relationships with stewards than others, which he hinted may influence decision making.

Hamilton wants to see more independent stewards involved in Formula 1 during races, ensuring that they have no prior attachment to drivers which may play some kind of factor on their decisions.

“We need to make sure we get non-biased stewards too,” Hamilton told reporters in Barcelona. “Racing 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.”

Horner disagrees about the idea of stewards leaning towards favouritism, as does Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who doesn’t think there’s a “conscious bias” being taken in Race Control, and that the sport needs to have consistent decision-making throughout the year.

🗣 | Lewis Hamilton on wanting non-biased stewards in the F1: #F1 pic.twitter.com/KXBOiQyCeE

— Planet Sport (@PlanetSportcom) February 23, 2022

Red Bull team principal Horner also praised the structures being put in place by new FIA president Mohammed bin Sulayem to try and ensure correct decisions come as often as possible.

He agrees with many others on the grid in feeling clarity within the rules is a significant facet of the sport that needs improving,

“I think a lot of issues are to do with the regulations themselves because you’ve got very complicated regulations that then leave room for interpretation,” Horner told reporters, quoted by Crash.net.

“I think the circuit limits one is an obvious one where in any other sport being over a white line and you’re out. And you have a situation like we have currently where some corners it’s OK, some corners it isn’t.

“I think for the fans, and even for the drivers and the teams, it’s confusing. So what you need is clear rules which are then easier to police.

“Now we’ve all been on the receiving end of stewards’ decisions that we’ve been unhappy about. I would agree with Toto that I don’t think there is an intended bias, I’m not aware of any stewards travelling with drivers to races.

“In Mohammed, we have a new president that is looking to bolster the structure and to bring in the equivalent of the VAR which is something that certainly the top teams have available to them.

“I think giving 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.”

Following Michael Masi’s removal as race director, the FIA will now rotate the role between World Endurance Championship race director Eduardo Freitas and DTM race firector Niels Wittich, with former deputy race director Herbie Blash brought back to the sport in an advisory capacity.