Stewart keen on permanent race stewards

Three-time world champion Jackie Stewart has called on the FIA to instill a permanent Formula One race steward in order to ensure consistency when making decisions.

A proposal has been put forward to the World Motor Sport Council to introduce a penalty points system, and Stewart believes that this would only be a viable option relying the stewards making decisions are the same for every race.

“I think it’s wrong that the FIA have part-time stewards dealing with safety,” Stewart told Reuters. “It’s not correct to have part-time stewards who have just been brought in from any other country for one or two races.

“There’s got to be the same people all of the time so that there’s no risk that you are going to have peak and valley judgements that are different.”

Under the present system, drivers can be given reprimands, grid penalties and race bans (as received by Romain Grosjean following the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix), but Stewart believes that a penalty points system would only work with consistent decision making.

“It’s got to be unilateral, with authority, with expertise and that person should be appointed and paid for. If you are putting penalty points in, then you should be judged consistently.”

Currently, each race has a different set of stewards, with at least one being a former Formula One driver. The FIA is yet to confirm whether or not the new penalty system will be introduced to the sport in the near future.