George Russell: “F1 Is a Multibillion-Dollar Sport, We Shouldn’t Be Relying on Volunteer Stewards”

Mercedes driver George Russell has reignited the debate around Formula 1’s stewarding structure, arguing that a sport of F1’s scale should not depend on volunteers to make race-defining decisions.

Stewarding has become a major talking point once again following multiple controversial rulings this season. Many in the paddock including Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz have called for F1 to adopt permanent, professional stewards with hands-on racing experience.

Sainz recently suggested that the standard of officiating should at least match the analytical work delivered by former F1 drivers Karun Chandhok, Anthony Davidson, and Jolyon Palmer, whose post-race reviews he follows closely.

When asked about Sainz’s comments ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Russell agreed, but highlighted the differences in pressure and responsibility between TV analysts and FIA stewards.

“Yeah, well, I respect those three that he mentioned from an analysis perspective, and I think they do get things absolutely spot on,” Russell said. “The benefit they have, versus the stewards, is they’ve got, one, no pressure, and two, they’ve got time on their hands not to make a decision there in the moment, and three, they’re not following guidelines.”

Russell stressed that stewards are required to follow strict regulations rather than their personal racing judgement a structure that can break down when guidelines fail to address nuanced incidents.

“Their job isn’t to make a decision based upon their view in racing knowledge; their job is to make a decision based upon the guidelines. That means the guidelines need to be correct. If the guidelines aren’t correct, the decisions won’t be correct.”

The Mercedes driver believes the solution is consistency delivered by experienced individuals who work every race.

“You can’t have a guideline for every circumstance. So it goes back to this point where I think consistent stewarding from individuals who’ve got that racing experience… is where we will get the most consistent penalties.”

Russell: “It’s a job, they shouldn’t be volunteers”

Russell went further, saying the sport’s financial scale makes it unacceptable to rely on voluntary officials.

“At the end of the day, it’s a job. It’s a multibillion-dollar sport. We shouldn’t be having volunteers having such great power in certain roles.”

He added that while the specific trio of pundits mentioned by Sainz are not essential, the FIA must invest in professional, paid stewards if it wants consistent officiating across all 24 races.

“I don’t think we need to get necessarily those specific three, but I do think those three would be great. But somebody’s got to stick their hand in their pocket to pay the stewards the correct amount.”

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Written by

James Rees

A passionate motorsport journalist from Wales, with over 30 years of love for the sport. A dedicated father of three, working as a content manager, covering the fast-paced world of Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula E, and IndyCar.

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