[F1] Anyone else getting sick of the stewards bias?

[Deleted]

Hey guys,

I just wanted to start a discussion on a pretty major part of F1 - The Stewards. I can't shake this feeling that the stewards are being completely biased when it comes to how they treat people when it comes to reviewing incidents in the race.

Today for example: Vettel pushed Button off of the track and gets no punishment at all. He had to go across onto the grass because his nose was adjacent to the Red Bull, so strictly speaking they were "side by side". The thing that screamed bias to me is the time it took for them to decide. Litterally NOTHING happened for 7 laps for them to investigate, just the Vettel vs Button incident. Why would it take them 7 laps (roughly 12 minutes) to make a decision about something so simple?
Either he pushed him off the road and deserves a drive-through
Or he was simply blocking as normal and was well within his right and didn't deserve the drive-through.

Either way, a decision like that does not take 12 minutes to make. I can't help but think they were discussing "At this point in the race, if he gets a drive through penalty that will put him in last position, which will make it incredibly hard to him to win the title". It feels a lot like the Post+Jean-Marie Balestre situation all over again where the FIA president is favoring a driver (Bernie has said many times that Vettel is his favorite driver and they are great friends).

What do you guys think?

[Ascend]

Wouldn't surprise me, Formula One hasn't changed at all since the times of Senna, and look at how he was treated.

[Deleted]

Wouldn't surprise me, Formula One hasn't changed at all since the times of Senna, and look at how he was treated.

Exactly what came to my mind. He got disqualified from a race at the end of a season for a move everybody else used in the seasons before.. costing him the title.. and rumors says all that because the fia-chef happened to be a frenchman just like Prost.

Regards decisionmaking on F1: they are just worried about a false decision so they take their time, just look at soccer and their referies, without a slow-mo they call wrong judgements all the time.

[Northern Goblin]

The stewards aren't bias.

They just hate Hamilton.

[Kebab]

The stewards aren't bias.

They just hate Hamilton.

Probably one of the few things that the stewards do right is to punish Hamilton. That guy drives carelessly and is always guilty when he gets into a collision.

I remember when Hamilton started in F-1, he wasnt punished at all several times, even though he was guilty. Probably because the stewards were afraid of being called racist, when they did finally punish Hamilton, guess what he did? He called them racist.

[Northern Goblin]

Probably one of the few things that the stewards do right is to punish Hamilton. That guy drives carelessly and is always guilty when he gets into a collision.

I remember when Hamilton started in F-1, he wasnt punished at all several times, even though he was guilty. Probably because the stewards were afraid of being called racist, when they did finally punish Hamilton, guess what he did? He called them racist.

I think you missed the sarcasm, not sure where you're from but it's getting to the point where people in English media are going "It's a conspiracy against poor Lewis, every race he'll be summoned to the Marshal's office on some trumped up charge." Hamilton's reckless behaviour and Alonso's childish tantrums are the two things that put me off F1 these days.

[Fiducia]

Initially I was aggrieved by this, but it was on the borders of legal. It was far from the Schumacher vs Barichello "dangerous" saga.

The stewards aren't bias, but I think perhaps you are since McLaren are a British team. Seb had almost his entire car infront of Jenson, and there was a very slow drift to the right side of the track, which is far from dangerous. Jenson should have saw it and pushed to the left before Seb covered him, although it would have been difficult to do anything on the outside of the turn anyway. At the end of the day, karma happened and Seb got a puncture. Seb this year has been far better, and more consistent than any other driver, and you cannot say it was all the car. Look at his amazing move on Fernando in Monza, or some of his other stunning drives. Each time, he has left Mark far, far behind him.

[Deleted]

Initially I was aggrieved by this, but it was on the borders of legal. It was far from the Schumacher vs Barichello "dangerous" saga.

The stewards aren't bias, but I think perhaps you are since McLaren are a British team. Seb had almost his entire car infront of Jenson, and there was a very slow drift to the right side of the track, which is far from dangerous. Jenson should have saw it and pushed to the left before Seb covered him, although it would have been difficult to do anything on the outside of the turn anyway. At the end of the day, karma happened and Seb got a puncture. Seb this year has been far better, and more consistent than any other driver, and you cannot say it was all the car. Look at his amazing move on Fernando in Monza, or some of his other stunning drives. Each time, he has left Mark far, far behind him.

What do you mean? Seb got a puncture? It was Hamilton that got the puncture, that's why he let Button pass him.

[Ligier]

Its Hamilton & Massa again. The stewards are getting bored of seeing Hamilton!

What annoys me more is the fact that Michael Schumacher got away with much worse back in the late 90s and early 00s, and got away with absolutly everything. It's gone from one extreme to another when it comes to dealing with drivers, but even then, Schumacher STILL gets away with things now. For most drivers, flying over Perez would have earned a 10 place grid penalty. For most drivers, pushing someone onto the grass at Monza would be an instant drive-through. But not Schumacher.

The other problem is, all drivers are part of a catch 22. They want the drivers to race, but if they do, even with the slightest contact, they'll get penalised. That's not going to encourage too much overtaking, although with DRS this year, it's been much better.

It's nice to see a German driver who can win back to back world championships without 1. team orders, 2. refuelling stops 3. knocking other cars off the road. Schumacher couldn't manage it without those things, Vettel is by far a better racing driver than Schumacher ever was.

[Myrlae]

Tbh they have to discuss the decisions i guess and that CAN (not always must) take some time.
Also i think they should give Hamilton a way higher punishment, the accident with massa again today..... i really hope he drives more careful next season or gets kicked out of the team/F1 in the next years

[RexalLB]

Charlie Whiting, the person who handles all the stewards inquiries etc. has stated that he CAN NOT enforce the following rule: "Drivers are not allowed to make more than one change of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction.” At the start of the race.

The incident you speak of that happened during the Japanese GP happened at the start of the race, therefore this rule does not apply until at least lap 2. (The reason being, is that there are so many people defending and making more than 1 move to defend, that 3/4 of the grid would be penalized for it)

Another quick observation that i noted, Vettel did push Button off the road, but Button had a whole 9 yards and then some behind him to break into, why didn't he see the gap being closed and break rather than be pushed onto the grass? Thats what I would have done if I was him.

As for all the stewards being bias... Just no, They try to play fair in all respects... Except when it comes to Ferrari, then its Ferrari International Assistance (FIA for short) to the rescue!! (Looks at Hockenhiem last year, Looks at a lot of other incidents involving Ferrari cars where no action was taken... /face-desk)

[Ligier]

Charlie Whiting, the person who handles all the stewards inquiries etc. has stated that he CAN NOT enforce the following rule: "Drivers are not allowed to make more than one change of direction to defend a position, deliberate crowding of a car beyond the edge of the track or any other abnormal change of direction.” At the start of the race.

The incident you speak of that happened during the Japanese GP happened at the start of the race, therefore this rule does not apply until at least lap 2. (The reason being, is that there are so many people defending and making more than 1 move to defend, that 3/4 of the grid would be penalized for it)

Another quick observation that i noted, Vettel did push Button off the road, but Button had a whole 9 yards and then some behind him to break into, why didn't he see the gap being closed and break rather than be pushed onto the grass? Thats what I would have done if I was him.

As for all the stewards being bias... Just no, They try to play fair in all respects... Except when it comes to Ferrari, then its Ferrari International Assistance (FIA for short) to the rescue!! (Looks at Hockenhiem last year, Looks at a lot of other incidents involving Ferrari cars where no action was taken... /face-desk)

The reaction to Hockenheim last year was pretty astonishing, to me. Alonso was faster, therefore should be allowed through for the sake of the team. Vettel's start was pretty brutal to say the least but at the end of the day, Vettel and Button did not make contact.

My two points have a connection as well, with the Ferrari bias. That started when Schumacher was starting to win for them. He got away with brutal start after brutal start. Meantime, Ferrari used team orders so much it was sickening. Hockenhiem last year could be considered too soon to apply that sort of team order when Massa was still in contention, but looking back, Austria 2002 is the ultimate in Ferrari bias, Schumacher bias and disgusting team behaviour - and the worst part is, JEAN TODD is now in charge of the FIA! The man who threatened to fire Barrichello over the team radio with 7 laps to go if he won the race and didn't allow Schumacher through, and it wasn't even half way through the season. This of course was the reason for the team orders ban.

I hope Vettel doesn't become the next Schumacher in terms of dirty tactics, he's much better than Schumacher ever was and thats proved by how much Rosberg has trounced Schumacher this past two years. Hopefully Japan was just a one off and Vettel will play nice from now on.

[invader]

i'm just sick of F1 fullstop, its a bunch of arse.. a few years ago F1 was kinda cool, now all they do is moan n moan n moan. poor ole hamilton gets lots of grief for being agressive pff, if you aint gonna be agressive in a 200 mph car then gtfo. ferrari suck balls. the points system is total bull shit. i could go on but cba...

[zox]

Can you imagine Vettel not getting 1 point in the last 4 races? I can't. Besides, even if the stewards would have arrived at a decision in say 2 laps, Vettel would still have 3 laps till he had to come in for his penalty, and he would have been able to still be top 10 after that. Even if he was found "guilty", he still would probably have grabbed a 4th or 5th place, winning him the world title just the same.

Personally I think Vettel went a little too far forcing Button off the track, but we've seen that sort of thing not being punished earlier this year a couple of times.

[Northern Goblin]

Y'know when I look back to the antics of a much younger Schumacher and the days of Prost vs Senna I can't help but laugh at the amount of bull that they put in modern day regulations. These days driver skill and ability being a determined factor of a race is reduced and the emphasis is more on the performance and power of the cars.

Give it 10 years and the cars will have names like race horses, and the drivers will be like the jockeys, most people won't care about them.