Lewis Hamilton has called for diversity in the stewards room as well as demanding an end to biased officials.

The Briton, speaking at his first official F1 press conference since Abu Dhabi, while avoiding mention of Michael Masi, was asked about the appointment of new race directors Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich.

"I want to see more women in the stewards' room," Hamilton told reporters. "I don't think we have many, I think last year it was maybe one or two.

"It would be awesome for them to have a male and female as the two race directors," he added. "I think that's a great way of promoting diversity too."

Referring to some stewards showing bias, an accusation levelled by Fernando Alonso last year when he questioned the lack of consistency in the sport's refereeing, Hamilton said: "We need to make sure we get non-biased stewards.

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

"I think we need people who have no bias and are super central when it comes to making decisions."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by jcr, 26/02/2022 16:08

"One of the criteria for stewards qualification , was to have an experienced (ex) ? driver on the panel.
As of now no female has been able to get anywhere near F1, so what pool should this female steward come from.
I am citing steward rather than race director, one step at a time.
As regards drivers friends being biased ??
It has been obvious for years that Sir Hammi has no friends apart from Angela.
Thake the drivers parade as an example.
He stands alone with headphones, and most times dos,nt even acknowledge the fans.
"

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2. Posted by BillH, 24/02/2022 17:13

"Hamilton can have an opinion on anything he wants however, when it comes to who should be a steward then competency in the role is the number one priority.
And that competency also means the stewards are unbiased."

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3. Posted by Editor, 24/02/2022 16:57

"@ Spindoctor

As it happens, Liberty boss John Malone and Greg Maffei, his number 2, were both big donors to Trump's campaign."

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4. Posted by Spindoctor, 24/02/2022 16:51

"@Editor - I can see why (Sir Lewis aside) hubby thought her tweets might be bad for Liberty - you don't get much more divisive that Mr Trump, especially in F1's (then) key markets outside USA.

As for the $1million (pocket change for Carey) - maybe he just thinks "Diversity" is good??? although the devil on my shoulder suggests that maybe he was just making a gesture to deflect criticism, the dosh went to FIA after all, not Sir Hamilton.

"

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5. Posted by Editor, 24/02/2022 13:21

"@ Spindoctor

In her tweets, Mrs Carey was critical of Black Lives Matter and also a supporter of Donal Trump.

Remember, this was her own personal account, and she was not employed by F1."

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6. Posted by Spindoctor, 24/02/2022 13:17

"@Editor - Blimey I didn't know that.... But that's "personal", not Business - did Mrs Carey say something too rude?"

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7. Posted by USA1, 24/02/2022 12:47

"I keep on saying and won’t change my mind, if you guys don’t wanna do it my way I don’t wanna play with you guys anymore! "

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8. Posted by Editor, 24/02/2022 12:01

"@ Spindoctor

RE Liberty hanging on Lewis' every word.

Well he does have enough clout to have the (then) boss of F1, Chase Carey's wife delete her Twitter account and for Carey himself to subsequently donate $1m to the sport's diversity programme."

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9. Posted by Spindoctor, 24/02/2022 11:55

"Fascinating that many respondents are labouring under two misapprehensions:
1. That because he's "Lewis Hamilton" he is somehow disqualified from expressing his opinions as though somehow FIA\Liberty hangs on his every word. I think his achievements give him the right to express an opinion & for those opinions to be judged on merit.

2. More importantly, that diversity is somehow antithetical to ability & excellence. The oft-repeated "I want the best possible people irrespective...." start to a sentence puts me in mind of the old "Some of my best friends are....".
I hesitate to explain his comments\position, but by looking at the initiatives he is supporting & funding it's clear that Sir Lewis's aim is not some tokenistic gesture. He rightly believes that like many Industries, the higher echelons of F1 and are the preserve of relatively privileged people. It looks like the aims to encourage & develop the potential excellence of those currently denied opportunity through race and\or gender, not pack-out those roles with incompetents based on criteria of gender or ethnicity."

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10. Posted by Italian Job, 24/02/2022 10:34

"Ethnicity, diversity, sex, gender (after all, these two can be different) don't matter a damn as far as I'm concerned. For my money Stewards need to have three attributes:
1: the respect (not fear) of their peers and the racers that they will/might be judging;
2: enough honesty to declare an interest if appropriate;
3: to be amongst the best people for the job."

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11. Posted by equator180, 24/02/2022 5:18

"Lewis didn't listen to his PR people and his intelligence broke through. As one comment on here, lets see how diverse his pit crew are and the two new guys on the block Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich how unbiased they are as one has a background of not just flying with friends but a real tie, financial tie with one of the teams I understand, stand to be corrected but this tie was in a series that runs in Australia. Lets see. Looking forward to the pit crew girls..."

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12. Posted by Superbird70, 24/02/2022 0:07

"@Editor-No I have not. Unfortunatley it wouldn't matter if I did. If it fits the US narrative of sports entertainment it could happen. Anything to generate revenue and make the 'game' more immersive."

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13. Posted by a fan !?, 23/02/2022 23:08

"Wonder how diverse in terms or gender / ethnicity / etc. his pit crew will be?"

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14. Posted by Egalitarian, 23/02/2022 21:06

"Lewis did not do himself any favours in that press conference and possibly disappointed a few people. It started OK, but he was particularly rude to one of the journalists/reporters not cutting any slack wrt to English not being the reporter's first language. And yes, there are some reporters/journalists who ask dumb questions and creatively paraphrase in an effort to generate a headline. But it is easy to be better than those people. If Lewis had called on his extensive PR training, I would have expected an answer along the lines of - 'it's a new chapter in F1 with these cars given the rule changes. Everyone at Mercedes works hard to ensure both George and I have the very best car available to us. All of the teams do their best too so perhaps your question is better answered in a month's time'. A non-answer that isn't just plain rude.
Then to wheel out the diversity thing. For me, merit should always be the determinant. I couldn't care less if the steward was a Transgender Paraplegic Autistic Inuit (I'm bound to have offended someone with that), or an affluent middle-aged white guy with an Oxford education - if they are the best PERSON, I would expect that would be all that is required.
The bias thing, whilst possibly real, came across as sour grapes. I suspect there could be some PR counselling in Lewis' future.
Alright, rant over. Looking forward to Day 2. Cheers"

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15. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 23/02/2022 20:51

"No, no and hell no.

So if Sir Lewis gets this, then what?

Will Sir Lewis be dictating the composition of the FIA itself?"

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Hamilton wants diversity in the stewards room

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