Lewis Hamilton says F1 needs unbiased race stewards

BARCELONA, Spain — Lewis Hamilton hinted that Formula One’s current race stewards are biased towards certain drivers and has called for new individuals without agendas to be installed.

Hamilton has said he “lost faith” in Formula One’s governing body after he controversially lost the title at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix when former race director Michael Masi incorrectly applied the rules to restart the race.

Masi was removed from his position last week after an FIA investigation into those decisions.

Every F1 race has a rotating panel of four stewards who make decisions on matters referred to them by the race director. Stewarding was a controversial topic last season, with several big decisions drawing criticism.

“We need to make sure we get nonbiased stewards,” Hamilton said on Wednesday.

“Racing drivers, some are very, very good friends with certain individuals. Some travel with certain individuals, and tend to take more of a keen liking to some of them.

“I think we [just need] people who have no bias and are super central when it comes to making decisions.”

It was not clear whom Hamilton was referring to. There is speculation it was a reference to former Red Bull driver Vitantonio Liuzzi, who was one of the stewards at last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix and did not penalise Verstappen for his aggressive defensive move on Hamilton which saw both drivers forced off track.

Liuzzi and his three fellow race stewards then rejected a Mercedes request to look at the incident after the race.

Hamilton believes sweeping changes are needed and he called for more diversity in the people making decisions.

“I want to see more women in the stewards’ room,” he said.

“I think maybe last year we had one or two and I think it would be awesome for them to have a male and a female as the two race directors, for the two race directors I think they are talking about doing. I think that’s a great way of promoting diversity, too.”

Mercedes…