Driver steward's performance?

[WhiteBlue]

Driver stewards have been criticized for inconsistent decisions. Those are the ten drivers who have served F1 in 2010 including the up coming Italian GP.

Bahrain - Alain Prost
Australia - Tom Kristensen
Malaysia - Johnny Herbert
China - Alexander Wurz
Spain - Derek Warwick
Monaco - Damon Hill
Turkey - Johnny Herbert
Canada - Emerson Fittipaldi
Europe - Heinz-Harald Frentzen
Great Britain - Nigel Mansell
Germany - Danny Sullivan
Hungary - Derek Warwick
Belgium - Nigel Mansell
Italy - Emerson Fittipaldi

You can deliver your judgement by giving five votes to the ten men. You can also discuss your opinion in this dedicated thread.

[jddh1]

I'm not voting but I would like to say that when the US GP returns, I want to see Danica Patrick be the driver steward.

[raymondu999]

How do you justify Alain Prost's decisions though? There was hardly anything happening in Bahrain. I don't remember penalties in Australia/Malaysia/Hockenheimring either.

[jddh1]

No Italian drivers and way too many British drivers listed there. I call this a conspiracy.

[WhiteBlue]

Not giving a penalty can be a good or a bad decision as well if it is inconsistent. IMO Sullivan's team did a good job in Germany by referring the Ferrari team order to the WMSC. That was both sensible and appropriate.

Hill's team in Monaco was too busy penalizing Schumacher to also penalize Barichello's dangerous throwing of the steering wheel on the track. He should have done like Sullivan and referred the rule ambiguity to a higher authority IMO.

Mansell's team in Belgium wasn't consistent with Barichello and Vettel causing avoidable accidents. They also missed the unsafe release of Alonso into Vettel's path by Ferrari. That was usually punished by $10,000 when other teams did this like in Hungary.

[tarzoon]

Driver stewards should know better... penalising someone just because the accident was avoidable is like saying to pilots that if there's a chance of you crashing, don't do it.

Mansell, for example, had some avoidable crashes in his career, like this one:



I think this has gone way off the marks already.

[richard_leeds]

Prime candidate for the fanboi ying yang thread.

[mx_tifoso]

....

But i think he has a point about the stewards. The nationality, or even past grievances of a driver steward could be be a reason for concern.
Mansel doesn't seem to like Hamilton for some reason, but likes Button. Hill has a problem with shumacher etc. The steward doesn't have veto power or much power in fact, but his input could have some influence on a decision.
Imagine if we had Nelson Piquet Sr. in germany presiding over the Alonso Massa team orders?

[Just_a_fan]

Pointless non-technical thread.

For a start it fails to address the point that the driver stewards are only one of a team and do not make decisions in isolation.

[mx_tifoso]

Prime candidate for the fanboi ying yang thread.

I had forgotten about that thread. Thanks for reminding me.

[Pandamasque]

I thought about voting but then I recalled that I haven't been present in the steward's room in ALL of those races so I can't make judgements about that.