Max Verstappen's father shares talks with F1 supremo over FIA stewarding irregularity

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen claimed that he spoke to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali about the prospect of having permanent race stewards. There was a lot of controversy during the recently concluded 2024 season regarding some of the decisions made by the FIA and the race stewards during the drivers.

The F1 teams and drivers have demanded consistency whilst dishing out the penalties and applying the rules better during the on-track battles. With a rating group of stewards for each race, sometimes the rules have been implied on the basis of interpretation which has led to a lot of confusion amongst the fans and the drivers.

Speaking with Formule1.nl, former F1 driver Jos Verstappen suggested the idea of permanent steward son the FIA's payroll to the former Ferrari team principal Domenicali and said:

“I did talk to Stefano Domenicali about that. The stewards just need to punish consistently. The same for everyone. Not five seconds one time and 10 seconds time penalty the next time for the same offense. It would help if there was a permanent pool of stewards.

"And no more former Formula 1 drivers either, but just people who have more distance and less interests, but who at the same time understand what the sport is about. With the same stewards every time, you’re also going to get more of the same decisions. It is the FIA’s turn. They need to step it up in terms of professionalism.”

Max Verstappen was even punished by the FIA for swearing during the press conference in Singapore and was given one day of community service as punishment whilst Charles Leclerc was let go with a fine for a similar offense.

The incident came at a crucial time for the Dutch driver when he and Red Bull were struggling to keep up with the performance of McLaren due to their car issues.

Max Verstappen skeptical about his chances for another title

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he would not win the driver's championship for the fifth time in a row next year if the Austrian team continued to have the same problems with the car that he experienced during the middle of the 2024 season.

Speaking with De Telegraaf, the four-time F1 world champion said:

“If we continue like this, I won't be champion next year. It's as simple as that. We really need to make steps to be competitive next season. We all know that. I trust the team that they can fix the balance issues from last season. Certain things that we couldn't adjust last year will be changed for next year."

Max Verstappen would look to become only the second driver in F1 history alongside Michael Schumacher to win the title five times in a row and the fourth to do it overall.