Eddie Jordan finds way to stop ‘hardcore’ Max Verstappen ‘aggravation’ tactics

Eddie Jordan has weighed in on the topic of F1 race stewarding, believing the stewards should be paid positions to strengthen the roles.

The topic of stewarding has been a hot one in recent weeks, with reigning World Champion Max Verstappen, in particular, unhappy with the way recent races have played out in the stewards’ room.

Eddie Jordan: F1 needs lawyers and paid stewards

The driver stewards over an F1 Grand Prix weekend are not paid for their expertise, with the role simply being an expensed position, which is at odds with continuous calls from the F1 drivers for more permanent solutions.

The role of the driver steward, which is a former Grand Prix driver added to the panel to help with adjudication, is one that has been in the headlines recently following the involvement of Johnny Herbert over a handful of races in which Max Verstappen has picked up penalties – leading the Dutch driver to make accusations of bias against him.

Appearing on the Formula For Success podcast, former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan was asked by co-host David Coulthard for his thoughts on the topic of stewarding and how best to tackle the image problem that the role currently has.

“With regard to the stewards, it’s difficult now, really, really difficult,” Jordan said.

“Because, truthfully, I did think it was a ‘jolly’ – I was asked to become a steward once when I’d stopped. I don’t know why I didn’t do it, because Emanuele Pirro was one, Derek Warwick was another, and Stefan Johansson…

“So there was an endless number of people who were stewards, including Martin Donnelly, and they all enjoyed it, and they said, ‘EJ, you should do that’. And I decided not to and I’m so pleased now that I didn’t!”

Coulthard joked that Jordan probably wasn’t interested due to it not being a paid position, to which the Irishman chuckled.

“When you have the level of expenditure, the level of outlay of hard cash in such a prestigious sport, we must be careful that we do not let ourselves get into a situation where we’ve got a football equivalent of VAR in our motor racing,” Jordan said, referring to football’s video assistant referee.

“I think we need fairness, we need to have somebody who’s really skilled. By that I mean I think we need lawyers, and I think that there probably should be a repayment or a payment package, remuneration package, so therefore, in the mornings, they should have meetings.”

More on F1’s governance and rules

? F1’s penalty system explained: How does a driver pick up a penalty from the FIA?

? Explained: F1’s track limits rules and how the FIA enforces them

Involving the drivers in constant contact with the stewards, and a better understanding of the penalty system, would smooth the path for the drivers, Jordan argued, who said that he firmly disagreed with the imposition of constant time penalties.

“All the drivers should be invited to the meetings, asked what their position is, and ‘Have they got a concern about this’, and ‘What do you think we’re going to do about that?’,” he said.

“I really believe that if the drivers had more contact and more belief in terms of who was actually going to be the steward or it’s the same stewards, time in, time out, then it would be a lot more sensible.

“You would not have the kind of clear, hardcore aggravation that Max has had over ‘Was he over the double line there? Did he push him out there or you didn’t do that there? Why would I get a penalty there and I didn’t get a penalty then?’

“These penalties are b*llocks. It’s nonsense. I’m looking up at the screen thinking ”This is a great battle’. The next thing I see, ‘Five-second penalty, 10-second penalty’ – it’s so goddamn boring!”

Following Jordan’s pointed comments, Coulthard laughed: “Thanks for not sitting on the fence with that one!”

Read Next: ‘Mini Toto’ labelled ‘best leader in the pit lane’ after doubts over team boss credentials