The Formula One Governing body has set up various Stewards to judge individual races. I understand the idea behind it, having different people chosen for each race cuts down on the chances of standing biases following a team from one event to another and it also cuts down the chances of the judges being bought. But the system does not seem to follow any set reasoning and is not consistent in their dishing out of punishments from race to race.
Case in point, At the Grand Prix held a Sochi Russia, Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen attempts a pass on the inside at a corner, his car comes together with the car of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas. Bottas' car is damaged and out of the race, Kimi takes the position and continues on to finish in the points.
The Stewards in charge of the event find the driver guilty of causing an "avoidable" accident. Ferrari losses it's place in the Constructors championship and Williams gets the position.
Jump forward to last weekend, The Mexican GP is running, Valtteri Bottas makes a move down the inside of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, the exact same move Kimi attempted on him in Russia. The two cars come together, The Ferrari is damaged and Bottas takes the position. The Stewards investigate the issue.
This incident is identical to the one which happened in Russia, the drivers positions reversed. The Stewards find no penalty, just a racing incident.
Both events were racing incidents, both pass attempts were ill advised, yet one is punished, the other not.
Just another example of the FIA's lack of consistency.
Step back a few years and you find another case of the FIA's poor decisions. Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher could have had the pole position at the Monaco GP. There is a mishap the race before when he and driver Bruno Senna came together, the Stewards had to make a decision, they give Schumacher a five position grid spot penalty for the next race, Monaco.
Most of the watching world considers what happened a simple racing incident.
At Monaco, Schumacher posts the fastest time but because of the five place grid penalty he does not get pole position. This event takes the best chance of him winning an F1, race after coming back from retirement, away. One of the Stewards rendering the decision at the previous race was a former rival of Michael Schumacher. The two have bad blood between them.
Was this a non-biased judgment? Most people I talked to don't believe so. Most believe it was just a revenge bid by the Steward.
Once again it opens the question about the FIA and it's judges. The simple truth is, at no point should a judge be chosen who has had competition with any current drivers, even if the judgement is sound it opens up a question of doubt in the minds of the fans.
The FIA needs to work on a system which is consistent in its findings and fair to all the drivers and teams.
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