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After the 2023 F1 Singapore GP qualifying, Max Verstappen knew he was going to see the stewards and a penalty could very well be on the table.
There was not one not two but three different incidents that were going to be investigated by the stewards. At least one of them was surely going to result in a penalty as the precedent was already there.
Well, that did not happen. Verstappen came out of the meeting with the stewards with a slap on the wrist. This was a bit surprising because at least one of the incidents that involved impeding another driver during qualifying was a slam dunk penalty. There was no argument around that.
This was the same penalty that had been levied on multiple other drivers earlier in the season. Charles Leclerc was penalized for something similar in Monaco and it cost him a podium. A week after dishing out that penalty, one of the FIA stewards reportedly came out and admitted that it was probably a mistake on the part of the stewards.
While on one side, this is a fresh sight where an FIA official admits something went wrong, it also raises alarms. The alarms of that infamous phrase 'human error' that was used by the FIA to describe what happened in the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP are in front of us once again.
This time around, again it was Max Verstappen who benefited from this but he wasn't the only one. Logan Sargeant also benefited from this as he wasn't penalized either for impeding.
Keeping the ghost of the 2021 F1 Abu Dhabi GP on one side, let's discuss the most important aspect of all of this. Are the FIA stewards even capable of maintaining consistency in decisions over a season?
The 2021 F1 title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton exposed FIA stewarding
It's quite often said that the FIA stewarding was much better when Charlie Whiting was there. On social media wherever you see a somewhat marginal steward decision trending, fans have often been seen reminiscing how good the days were under Charlie. Well. they could not be further from the truth.
Even during Whititng's reign, this would happen often but a basic human tendency of remembering the glorious past masks all of it. Stewarding standards have been very low for a while now. They only get highlighted when we are in an intense championship fight because at that every position every point contributes to the title.
This is precisely why the 2021 F1 title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton put the stewarding under the spotlight so much. Every point every position was important. Every move was scrutinized and every step was questioned. In all of this, the excessive scrutiny and questions truly led to the FIA stewards getting exposed.
Yes, Verstappen was the man that benefitted from it at the end of the season in Abu Dhabi but even before that, the season was filled with too many questionable calls.
The 2021 F1 season title battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton exposed the lack of acumen amongst the FIA stewards and that should have been the starting point to make things better.
The low-stake nature of the last two seasons has masked the stewarding incompetency
Unfortunately, that has not happened. The last two seasons have seen Max Verstappen and Red Bull dominate. The first half of 2022 still had some competition from Charles Leclerc and Ferrari but by the time we reached the second half, it was total domination.
The 2023 F1 season has been a dominant one for Verstappen from start to finish with Red Bull only losing its first race in Singapore when Carlos Sainz won. During these two seasons, since there hasn't been any realistic title battle, every steward transgression(of which there have been a few as highlighted by Fernando Alonso last season) has not been scrutinized as much.
As a result, instead of showing marked improvement, the stewards have just gone back to how they used to be and the consistency is just not there.
A close championship battle next season will expose the FIA stewards again
If the field closes up next season and we have credible challenges emerge from the likes of Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, and Mercedes, then we're looking at a proper championship battle. In that case, just like what happened in 2021, the stewarding will be exposed.
The reality of F1 and the FIA at this stage is that the stewards are just not ready or capable enough of handling a title fight. The high-stakes calls, the inconsistency, and most importantly, the lack of accountability are just not the facets of stewards that could be relied upon.
What happened in Singapore should be alarming for F1 and steps need to be taken by the FIA to have better prepared stewards. Otherwise, we're looking at a repeat of what happened in 2021 and nobody wants that.
