George Russell reckons it is time the FIA has full-time employed, professional race stewards to improve consistency and help drivers interpret the guidelines.

It comes after explosive races at the US GP in Austin and especially the Mexican Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen was issued with two 10-second time penalties.

Verstappen was penalised for forcing title rival Lando Norris wide at Turn 4 and leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 7 in Mexico City.

The world champion contested both decisions while, ahead of this weekend’s Brazil Grand Prix, Norris said he felt that «deep down» Verstappen knew the manoeuvre was wrong.

It has reopened the interpretations of F1’s loosely-worded rulebook and Russell, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, says that while he does not believe the rulebook needs ripping up, it does now require a stable body of race officials to improve the consistency of the penalties being dished out.

Russell said: «On a personal view, not a view of the collective, I don’t think it [the rulebook] needs ripping up at all. It just needs some fine adjustments or a small addition. It’s all pretty clear.

«The guidelines need to be in place but it also needs to be remembered they are guidelines. There’s not a written regulation and it’s down to the stewards to take the best judgement.

«When things come down to interpretation, and when things are about consistency, you can argue if you were to have the same stewards week in, week out, the consistency will be better because they’re interpreting things in the same manner and the drivers understand exactly what they expect in a given circumstance.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

«So I do feel, again a personal view, not one of on behalf of the drivers, but personal view, I do think we’re at a point now in this sport that we do need a full-time professional steward in where they earn a real salary.

«They’re not effectively volunteers and I do think within the pool of stewards we’ve got now, they are definitely up to standard. So it’s not saying anything bad about the current stewards, it’s just saying I feel we should be having system stewarding week in, week out.»

The FIA wishes to speak to drivers about the racing rules to provide clearer guidelines in the future. However, Verstappen — who has made several references to falling out of love with F1 — says the series has become over-regulated.

Speaking in Sao Paulo ahead of the race, he said: «It’s never going to be perfect because even if you remove rules, then you get into a battle, then you want more rules because it’s not clear what is allowed or not.

«Then when you have too many rules, you want less rules. It just keeps on going left and right all the time. Do I think it’s over-regulated? Probably yes. I mean, in general, the rulebook is only getting bigger and bigger every single year, I don’t think that’s always the right way forward.»

Russell however says that along with professional stewards, the guidelines do need further clarification but they only become highlighted when the wording is tested.

He added: «If you read the rules, there are lines that say if you’re driving erratically or dangerous, you’ll be punished and you can argue if a driver outbreaks himself and doesn’t make the corner on the exit that is erratic because you’re driving off the racetrack. 

«So there is an element of interpretation there, for sure it does need to be cleaned up a little bit.

«At the end of the day, every incident is different. For sure, now things are evolving… it’s like the safety of the cars, you need a bad accident to happen before you make this real progress.

«It’s the same with the driving regulations. You need something or decisions to be incorrect or things to be pushed beyond its limit before you realise change needs to happen.»

Former Formula 1 driver turned FIA steward Johnny Herbert does not expect a pair of 10-second sanctions at the Mexico Grand Prix will stop Max Verstappen from being aggressive in combat with title rival Lando Norris.

One week on from a controversial off-track overtake from Norris, which saw the McLaren driver handed a five-second penalty in Austin following a robust defence from Verstappen, the Dutchman was himself in trouble with the stewards, being penalised 10 seconds for gaining an advantage by leaving the track, and a second identical penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

With a meeting between the FIA and the drivers scheduled for the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate weekend of the season, some rules of engagement may be altered or clarified for the Losail and Abu Dhabi rounds.

But until this point, Herbert – who was one of the FIA stewards at the Mexico GP — believes Verstappen will keep pushing up to and occasionally beyond the letter of the law.

Speaking to Action Network, he said: “Those penalties in Mexico won’t stop Max Verstappen from pushing Lando Norris off the track in the future.

“The whole intention of Verstappen was to try to let Ferrari get the 1-2 finish. I think that’s definitely what Verstappen intended and tried to achieve, I understand why he did it but I don’t agree with it, I don’t think many people do.

Johnny Herbert, former driver and FIA steward, arrives at the track

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“‘Fair racing’ is something Norris has mentioned before, and that’s the type of fight he wants to have. I don’t see Verstappen’s driving changing because the number one goal is to stop Norris from closing the gap for the drivers’ championship. We potentially still have a lot of interesting racing coming our way.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown believed the stewards’ action in Mexico was not tough enough, while Red Bull team principal Christian Horner felt it was too harsh.

Offering his thoughts, Herbert added: “It’s the guidelines we followed, the teams agreed with our decisions. The right decision was made, the 20-second penalty for Max Verstappen was not harsh. Was Verstappen’s driving style on the edge or over the top? Yes, it was.

“Verstappen’s driving style was harsh, especially when he’s taking a fellow driver off the track. It’s an absolute no-no from me, current drivers, former drivers and stewards.

“I am such a big fan of Verstappen and it frustrates me massively when he drives the way he did in Mexico. He doesn’t need to do it, he’s so good in the cockpit and at this point in the championship, he just needs to stay out of trouble and drive as well as possible.

“When Verstappen goes into this horrible mindset of trying to gain an advantage by taking a fellow driver off the race track so Ferrari can get the 1-2, that is where Verstappen needs to know he doesn’t have to do that. Just win in the cleanest possible way you can.”