Former Ferrari and Williams race engineer Rob Smedley has proposed the introduction of an "augmented" stewarding group in Formula 1 to accelerate in-race decisions and prevent straightforward incidents from dragging on beyond the chequered flag. Smedley shared his thoughts on the High Performance Racing podcast alongside broadcaster Jake Humphrey and former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer.
Smedley explained that current FIA stewards simply lack the bandwidth to process every clash live without pausing the race. "You watch some of these '[Incident] will be investigated after the race' [messages], and you just think this is fairly obvious," he said. "Now, the reason why they do this, if you go behind the scenes, is because all the stewards are super busy with the race, right? You can't stop the race and say, 'Let the stewards decide.' But there could be an augmented steward group that is able to process these much faster."
He added that post-race investigations should still exist, but only for truly complex matters. "When it's after the race, you should still have the possibility to be investigated after the race, but only for really complex stuff. It should just get processed through," Smedley stated. "You can get rid of it altogether, just as much as you can't get rid of the result being provisional straight after the race to do exactly what Otmar said, which is to right the wrong that could have happened if there's been a breach of regulation and it hasn't been noticed. Then you've got to put that right after the race."
Smedley also highlighted the numerous technical infringements that can only be evaluated post-race, such as excessive plank wear, incorrect rear wing heights, slot gaps that are too open or closed, and cars running underweight. "There's been tons of those, right? Too much plank wear, rear wings at the wrong height, slot gap too open, too closed, whatever it is, underweight, all of those things. You've got to take into account. It is a technical sport, and because of that, you can only arbitrate on the technicalities of the sport after the race because you've got to measure," he added.
The proposal comes amid growing criticism over the consistency and speed of F1 stewards' decisions in recent seasons. Many believe that slow investigations can disrupt the flow of races and affect final results. An augmented group could help deliver faster verdicts without compromising accuracy.
However, implementing such an idea would require thorough study, including regulatory and technological aspects. The FIA has not yet commented on the proposal. Nonetheless, discussions about the role of stewards and decision-making efficiency in F1 are expected to continue.
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