Mercedes crew principal Toto Wolff has questioned whether or not F1’s stewards are “biased” with their decision-making after a controversial United States Grand Prix.
George Russell was hit with a five-second penalty for forcing Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas off observe in the course of the early phases of Sunday’s race at COTA, a punishment which Wolff described as being a “complete joke”.
In the meantime, McLaren’s Lando Norris was penalised for passing F1 title rival Max Verstappen off observe at Flip 12 throughout an exciting late battle for the ultimate podium spot, which finally went the way in which of the Pink Bull driver.
Throughout an trade with Russell over crew radio on the cool-down lap, Wolff was heard calling the choice to not penalise Verstappen for operating Norris extensive initially of the race as “biased decision-making”.
Russell requested: “Did Verstappen get a penalty for that Flip 1?”
Wolff responded: “No, he didn’t get a penalty and on the finish Lando obtained a penalty for being compelled off and overtaking on the skin. I suppose it’s a bit biased choice making however not stunning.”
To which, Russell replied: “Yeah… unusual.”
Chatting with Sky Sports activities after the race, Wolff as soon as once more took purpose on the “utterly odd and weird” stewarding selections seen over the Austin weekend.
“It’s inconsistent. With Valtteri [Bottas] it wasn’t even a race,” Wolff stated. “Yesterday [in the sprint race] we’ve seen just a few of these incidents which had been precisely the identical that weren’t penalised, racing for actual positions really.
“Receiving that penalty is totally odd and weird. I feel we all know why however clearly I can’t say that on tv.”
Requested if he thought that was on account of ‘over-judicious’ stewarding, Wolff stated: “Typically there’s correlations.”
Pushed on what he meant by ‘correlations’, Wolff added: “When there may be decision-making that could be a bit attention-grabbing.”
Wolff concluded the interview by saying: “On the finish of the day, it’s a troublesome job. Some [stewards] are excellent. Some are attempting their finest and you should salute these guys.”
