Racing
© fuji.tim
Guenther Steiner has called for the FIA to back race control with full-time stewards and AI-based planning after Formula 1’s British Grand Prix ended behind the Safety Car following Max Verstappen’s lap-48 crash at Stowe.
The former Haas team principal framed Silverstone as proof that the sport still lacks a robust system for handling late-race neutralisations. Verstappen became beached in the gravel on lap 48 of 52, triggering the Safety Car, and hopes of a final-lap restart grew when the broadcast briefly showed that the Safety Car would come in. The FIA later said that message was caused by a software error and that there were not enough laps left to complete the unlapping procedure.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner said the answer is not to blame the stewards but to build a permanent structure around the race director. “So we need to start a campaign soon. You know what I'm always saying: full-time stewards that work on a plan,” he said. “This is not to blame the stewards because the stewards have nothing to do with this; it's the race director.”
Steiner argued that permanent stewards could help race control work through known end-of-race scenarios before they happen instead of relying on improvised calls in the moment. He said that if “the lapped cars have unlapped themselves at least half a lap, and there's only one lap to go, they will not catch them. So they will not be in the way. So we can start the race,” although he added that at Silverstone “the race director did what is written in the rulebook.”
He also cast doubt on the FIA’s explanation for the incorrect restart message on the world feed. “I think they said, 'Oh, let's restart the race.' And someone said, 'You cannot do this because the rules say you cannot do this,' and then they said, 'Oh, I'm out of here now. Just stop everything. I don't want to embarrass myself,'” Steiner said.
For Steiner, the bigger issue is that Formula 1 is still reacting to these situations rather than solving them in advance. He said the sport had its “biggest debacle in Formula 1 in the last 50 years” five years ago and asked, “have you found a proper solution? No.” His proposed fix is more technical preparation, with software or artificial intelligence used to run through “a million scenarios” before race day.
“Set the regulations beforehand, not during the race, because you cannot change it then,” he said. “If this scenario happens, then you have a solution, but you need to present it before. You need to run through a million scenarios. A human being cannot do it.”