Toto Wolff delivers differing view to Lewis Hamilton over 'stewards' bias'

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said that he does not think that there is a conscious bias in the stewards’ room in Formula 1, with his driver Lewis Hamilton suggesting this week that there is among some of them.

Hamilton, speaking at pre-season testing in Barcelona, has suggested that some stewards perhaps apply the rules differently to some of the drivers who they are friends with, and he has called for that to stop.

Certainly, it’s quite the claim to make from the seven-time champion and Wolff isn’t so sure he agrees that there is a conscious bias, though he does stand with Hamilton when it comes to calling for consistency in terms of rule application.

“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 needs 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.”

Ultimately, all the drivers and the teams really want is a set of rules that are applied consistently and firmly every single time.

We’ve not had that as much in recent years, and hopefully the changes the FIA has made to the Race