Were the Stewards wrong?

By Joe Murphy

In this article, we will look at five famous, or infamous, Formula 1 incidents, where the stewards intervened in what can only be described as controversial circumstances. These range from decades ago, to a matter of months previous to the time of writing. So let’s get cracking…

Don’t forget to leave your thoughts on all of these incidents, in the comment section below!

1. Hamilton v Verstappen – 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton had led the entire race from the first corner and was in total command with a fourteen second gap to his direct title rival. However, an ill-timed safety car in the final moments gave Verstappen the opportunity to take the title away from the British driver.

The safety car was brought out after Williams driver Nicholas Latifi crashed into the wall amid a duel with Haas’ Mick Schumacher, just five laps before the end of the race.

A virtual safety car was initially called and Verstappen and Red Bull used the opportunity to pit and fit fresh, soft tyres, while Hamilton had no choice but to keep track position and stay out on his deteriorating hard tyres. Had he decided to pit himself, Max would have stayed out and, as a result, taken the lead with only a few laps left and no guarantee of a restart.

However, a full safety car was eventually called by Race Control, bunching up the field and wiping out Hamilton’s lead.

Then, the moment of controversy. On the penultimate lap of the race, Race Control allowed the lapped cars to pass the Safety Car. But not all the lapped cars, just the five between the two title protagonists.

This meant that Verstappen was right behind Hamilton going into the final lap, which allowed the Dutchman to make full use of his soft tyres and successfully make an incredible pass to take his first World Championship.

As far as a verdict goes, the stewards acted in the interests of entertainment, not in fairness. Even if it meant a safety car ending to the season, protocol should have been followed as it would have been at any other time in the season. “We went Motor Racing”, the race director proclaimed. This desire to get the cars racing is right and proper, so in a sense, it feels like the stewards made a rushed and pressured decision. Max did nothing wrong. Nor did Lewis. Neither did the either of the teams. I bet Michael Masi wishes Latifi had just missed the barriers instead.

2. Senna v Prost – The Japanese Grand Prix 1989

Senna and Prost headed into this race all-but level in the title fight, but the Brazilian couldn’t afford a non-finish. Meanwhile, the French driver’s minor advantage meant that he certainly could.

Senna was quicker than Prost in qualifying by a frankly ridiculous 1.7 seconds. Still, Prost worked his way to start alongside Senna, having worked on race setup, and he made a last ditch call to remove the Gurney Flap on his rear wing, increasing his outright speed on the straights.

With Senna starting on the dirty side of the grid, Prost raced, quite literally, into the lead, at least until the round of pitstops. Although Senna was stationary for much longer, he was still able to eat into Prost’s lead, putting him under severe pressure as they entered the closing stages of the race.

But with Prost’s MP4-5 carrying less drag, it was proving tricky for even a great overtaker like Senna to make a move. With just six laps remaining, and his patience clearly wearing thin, Senna made his move from a long way back, appearing to catch Prost by surprise.

Once he had his front wheels alongside the Frenchman’s cockpit, the pair hit the brakes at the exact same time, but Prost squeezed over too early. The Frenchman had indeed stayed true to his word, having previously promised that there was no way he was going to open the door.

The resulting collision caused both cars to slide out of the race. Or so we thought. Prost abandoned his stricken car, almost immediately, as he was certain that his suspension or steering was broken. Meanwhile, Senna forced marshals to push-start him back onto the track.
What happened next was a quite remarkable comeback from Senna, who beat the Benetton of Alessandro Nannini to win on the road, despite having to pit an extra time.

The moment was already memorable enough and when the stewards got involved, it became one of the most controversial decisions in the sport’s history. Senna was denied by the stewards, who disqualified him for cutting the chicane, despite very clearly not gaining any sort of advantage. Newspapers and media outlets cried that there had been civil war in the sport. Clearly the wrong call was made here and Senna shouldn’t have been disqualified. However, this isn’t the last time the stewards ruled debatably on a collision…

3. Schumacher v Hill – The 1994 Australian Grand Prix

Yes, just five years later in the 1994 season, the title fight came down to a showdown at the final race in Adelaide. Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were separated by just one point and both drivers were tussling it out for their first F1 World Championship. However, it was the German who ended the drama victorious, albeit in dubious circumstances.

Michael had lost control and run into the barrier, damaging his car badly. Therefore, surely this would mean that Hill was the champion? Not quite. The German had a plan. Strangely enough, he kept going, limping back to the pits, later, when Hill came up to overtake, Schumacher punted him out, on what looked like stupid at best and deliberate at worst. Both their races were over and, as a result of neither scoring any further points, it was Schumacher who claimed his maiden title.

The stewards should have intervened here. But how can they? A 10 second, or stop-go penalty? Hell, even a DSQ? With any of these results, Schumacher still would have won the title. The only way would have been a points deduction or DSQ from the entire season. So the stewards probably made the right call, even if it was most definitely a shady move from the German.

4. Vettel v Hamilton – The 2019 Canadian Grand Prix

OK, well this one might get me some hate. As a wrestling fan, this was what you call a “face turn” for Vettel. He won a lot of fans back after the events of this race with many millions angered at the decision to deny the German, a well earnt victory.

Hamilton was deemed the winner of the 50th Canadian Grand Prix, despite having started from second behind Vettel and remained in that position for the duration of the race. He had not looked like he had the pace to pass, despite a relentless chase, until that famous moment changed the complexion of the race.

With Vettel pushing hard, he lost the rear at turn four on lap 48 and went across the grass and almost hit Hamilton as he returned to the track on the inside. Lewis then attempted to go around him. Vettel emerged in front and the incident was investigated by the stewards. Vettel’s defence was that he had nowhere to go in a particularly tight part of the circuit. Furthermore, the grass made it impossible to rejoin the track smoothly.

After a short deliberation, they gave the German a five-second penalty for an unsafe return. He held his lead until the race’s end, but this was only 1.3 seconds. Hamilton, therefore, won as a result of the penalty, with Vettel having to settled for second. He told journalists to listen to the crowd, in terms of what he thought of the decision. In more practical action of protest, he then moved the podium places posts, replacing the #1 in front of the Mercedes with the #2, on live television for the world to see.

Vettel was understandably angry and confused. “I had nowhere to go. They are stealing the race from us,” he said to his team. Then querying what he might have done, having gone straight across the grass to rejoin the track. “No, no, no. Seriously you need to be an absolute blind man,” he said. “Let him pass and not control your car – where am I supposed to go? This is a wrong world, this is not fair.”

Now, my heart says this was the wrong decision. And with people already labelling this page as a Princess Luli Fanboys club, I risk being exiled by fans of other drivers. That being said, Seb did leave the track, he did maintain an advantage. And because he didn’t then give the place to Lewis, who by the way was less than half a second behind at the time of the mistake, a five second penalty is all the stewards could realistically do.

A difficult one this, and an incident that is still remembered. To the extent that fans of the four time champion discount this race from Lewis Hamilton’s record win total.

5. Hamilton v Raikkonen – The 2008 Belgian Grand Prix.

Yes, another incident involving Lewis Hamilton. He always seems to be involved in the more notable incidents. But when legend of the sport, Niki Lauda, describes the decision to strip the Brit of his Belgian Grand Prix victory in 2008 as “the worst judgment in the history of Formula One”, then it’s worth discussing here.

The three-times world champion criticised the sport’s governing body after race, after stewards penalised Hamilton for gaining an advantage when he cut a corner while battling with Kimi Raikkonen, much like we saw with Vettel a decade or so later. The difference was that Hamilton immediately let Raikkonen back past and then re-took the lead at the next corner. However, a staggering two hours after the race, he was hit with a monumental 25-second penalty. This dropped him to third overall, giving Brazilian driver Massa, the victory. Not only was Massa the biggest rival to Hamilton’s maiden title aspirations, but this decision meant the Ferrari driver was now just two points behind him in the drivers’ title race.

Lauda wasn’t shy to give his verdict; “this is the worst judgment in the history of F1, the most perverted judgment I have ever seen.” He didn’t stop there though; “It’s absolutely unacceptable when three functionaries [stewards] influence the championship like this. Hamilton did nothing wrong. He was on the outside, he then let him [Raikkonen] by, which is the rule, and afterwards he passed him. Hamilton did the right thing in letting him by before again passing him.”

In retrospect, Lewis didn’t do much wrong here. A small penalty such as five seconds, much like Sebastian Vettel received in Canada, may have been understandable. But 25 seconds? Seems to have been suspiciously calculated by the Stewards.