Horner: Steward issues due to 'complicated' regulations, not bias

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner disagrees with Lewis Hamilton and believes that F1's inconsistent stewarding is due to "complicated" regulations rather than to biased individuals.

Speaking in Barcelona on Wednesday, Hamilton said that some stewards "take more of a keen liking" to certain drivers.

The Mercedes driver therefore suggested that compelling decisions depended first and foremost on unbiased and impartial stewards.

But Horner believes that F1's stewarding issues are rooted in the regulations rather than in the individuals making the calls.

• Read also: Hamilton calls for 'non-biased stewards' in F1

"I think a lot of issues are to do with the regulations themselves because you’ve got very complicated regulations that then leave room for interpretation," Horner told the media in Barcelona.

"I think the circuit limits one is an obvious one where in any other sport being over a white line and you’re out. And you have a situation like we have currently where some corners it’s OK, some corners it isn’t.

"I think for the fans, and even for the drivers and the teams, it’s confusing. So what you need is clear rules which are then easier to police.

"Now we’ve all been on the receiving end of stewards’ decisions that we’ve been unhappy about," added the Briton.

"I would agree with Toto that I don’t think there is an intended bias, I’m not aware of any stewards travelling with drivers to races."

In the aftermath of last December's controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the FIA has put together a new race direction structure with the aim of improving the stewards' decision-making process.

Horner praised the governing body's initiative.

"In Mohammed [Ben Sulayem], we have a new [FIA] president that is looking to bolster the structure and to bring in the equivalent of the VAR which is something that certainly the top teams have available to them," he said.

"I think giving a better infrastructure for clearer decisions with clearer regulations is something that should be strived for.

"But I certainly don’t think there was any bias from stewards during the last seasons."

Horner's Mercedes counter-part, Toto Wolff, sitting next to the Briton in Wednesday's presser, agreed that there was no "conscious bias" in his view on the part of the officials.

"I think we need professionalism in the stewards' room," said Wolff.

"I don't think there is a conscious bias, to be honest, [they are] intelligent people. But most important is whenever we talk about the race direction, the support that they will have back at base, or the stewards, there need to be a standard.

"This is what we deserve. And this is what everybody expects. And I think there's some very good people that we can build upon. Most important, and we all have talked about it last year, was the topic of inconsistency.

"And there shouldn't be a lot of room to interpret the rules. There shouldn't be a lot of how can I say leniency, depending on what the potential outcome might be.

"But the rules are the rules. I think as everything is being restructured I have faith in Mohammed that going forward, we will optimise all these structures."

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