Todt: Stewards consistency is crucial

06/12/2012

Speaking in Istanbul, at a meeting with Race Director Charlie Whiting and Formula One Race Stewards, FIA President Jean Todt stressed the need for consistency in the application of penalties.

In a year in which race fans, drivers and teams have questioned a number of Stewards decisions, feeling that some drivers and teams appear to be dealt with differently to others, Todt stressed the need for total consistency.

"You have a very difficult job but you are now better supported by all the electronic facilities which help in analysing incidents," he told the meeting. "The only thing you should now concentrate on, other than the good job you are doing, is how to do it better.

"It would be good to speak to your partners, the teams and the drivers, who can give you good input," he added. "Rather then always applying penalties you must analyse the consequences of the penalties. Consistency, for me, is crucial."

The Stewards are understood to have praised the introduction of readily available real-time telemetry and added that the presence of former and current racing drivers on the stewarding panels has been a real benefit, and while noting former drivers may not have a thorough knowledge of the Sporting and Technical Regulations, their ability to immediately understand how and why on-track actions may have been taken is invaluable.

A recent introduction to the process has been the delivery of a set of race notes to all stewards on the FIA panel following each grand prix, including stewards who did not officiate at the race in question. The stewards present at yesterday's meeting acknowledged the value of these notes in achieving consistency in their decisions.

Finally, the stewards were supportive of a proposal to introduce a penalty points system for F1 superlicences. This would work in the same way as the road licence systems in operation in many countries and breaches of regulations would lead to the accrual of points until a certain threshold was reached, at which point a driver would receive a race ban.