FIA President launches staunch defence of Stewards amid “wholly unwarranted criticism”

F1’s governing body FIA, and the race stewards recently came under fire from the fans for the recent penalty decisions made by them. FIA recently came out and publicly released two documents to provide greater transparency over the decisions made by the governing body. As the document was made publicly available, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem defended the race stewards against the recent criticism.

Max Verstappen and George Russell collided in the final moments of the Spanish GP, where the Dutchman seemingly ran into the Mercedes driver. The Dutchman was given a 10-second penalty and three penalty points on his license. However, many criticised the stewards, suggesting the penalty should've been harsher.

What followed next was George Russell's erratic driving under the safety car, which was appealed by Red Bull, but no action was taken, which again was highlighted by the F1 fans. Amid all the criticism, FIA came out on June 25 and publicly released two documents to help with the transparency behind the stewards' decision-making process.

The two documents were the 2025 F1 Penalty Guidelines and F1 Driving Standard Guidelines. The documents have been available for almost a decade, but the latest versions were only released publicly recently. While these documents don't have a regulatory value, they help the stewards in making a fair decision based on the offence.

F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna - Source: Getty

Mohammed Ben Sulayem came out and defended the stewards, as he said,

“FIA Stewards perform a hugely complex task, not just in Formula 1 but across all of our championships, and they do this voluntarily, with great passion and commitment. That dedication is all too often met with extreme and wholly unwarranted criticism.” “To demonstrate the rigour with which they pursue their role, we are today publishing the Penalty and Driving Standards Guidelines that assist them with their decisions. This will give fans and members of the media a much deeper and more accurate insight into how decisions are made in Formula 1,” added Mohammed Ben Sulayem

George Russell reacts to the FIA’s publication of stewards' guidelines for driving Standards & penalties

George Russell is one of the leaders of the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers' Association), a union representing the F1 drivers. The Mercedes driver has called for transparency behind the F1 governing body's decisions, including when Fernando Alonso's penalty was overturned at the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP. As the documents were made publicly available by the governing body, Russell said,

“Greater transparency within the governance of our sport is an important issue and this is a useful step in that direction. Hopefully it will be beneficial for the sport to give the media and fans a clearer understanding of the rules of engagement when we're racing on track, and to help them understand how the stewards reach their decisions.”

The documents are available on FIA’s official website and can be downloaded in the PDF format.

Edited by pranavsethii