Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert has been dropped as a steward by the FIA due to his work as a "media pundit".

"It is with regret that we announce today that Johnny Herbert will no longer fulfil the position of F1 driver steward for the FIA," said the sport's governing body in a brief statement.

"Johnny is widely respected and brought invaluable experience and expertise to his role," it continued. "However, after discussion, it was mutually agreed that his duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible.

"We thank him for his service and wish him well in his future endeavours."

The Briton had previously been dropped by Sky at the end of 2022, having carried out his duties as a stewards alongside his work as a pundit for the broadcaster, but never on the same race weekend.

Herbert was one of the stewards on a number of controversial race weekends, not least last year's Mexican Grand Prix which saw Max Verstappen penalised twice.

As a pundit for a betting company, Herbert subsequently commented on the penalties, later voicing his opinion on the Dutch driver's clash with Oscar Piastri at the start of the Abu Dhabi season finale.

His comments led to widespread criticism online, and while stewards are always going to come in for some flack it was his comments as a pundit in relation to these events that left the FIA looking vulnerable at a time it was already under attack.

Even as a pundit, Herbert was never far from criticism, famously being put down by Fernando Alonso in 2016 when he doubted the Spaniard's commitment and ability, urging him to retire.

"You ended up as a commentator, because you're not a world champion," the Spaniard subsequently told the Briton during a live broadcast.

The news comes at a time the FIA is looking to "professionalise" its stewarding, which is mostly carried out by volunteers, who are then left open to offers from betting companies and the like, especially if some well-chosen words might lead to a publicity boost for said company.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 12 hours ago

"What great news. Herbert should never have been granted the role in the first place. He certainly won't be missed."

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2. Posted by rambler, 22 hours ago

"A professional body should be set up along the lines of the football referees who employed by Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). The teams and FIA would fund an organisation that controls the stewards ( say, F1 Race Officials Limited). The organisation would be responsible for training, performance revues, impartiality and honesty of the stewards. Stewards would receive a salary depending on their experience and a race fee and bonuses would be payable. A career as a race official would be available to any one male or female. I see them as coming from people interested in motor. It may suit those who have realised they are not going to have a career as a driver. I see a typical career progression would be karting, junior formulas, formula 3, formula 2 and then formula 1. "

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3. Posted by ClarkwasGod, 23 hours ago

"This just highlights the issue - if permanent Stewards are to be used, other than their expenses to attend, should they be remunerated? If so, by whom? In itself the issue of payment creates, a possible issue with impartiality - would their rulings be influenced, even sub-consciously, by who their paymaster was - and given the confrontational stance that the FIA is taking nowadays, that might be very much in their minds!

Maybe a means test could be incorporated to ensure that those considered were sufficiently wealthy to not need payment. Irrespective, there should be some form of restriction on such situations that Herbert found himself in, just to avoid any future recurrence."

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4. Posted by Anthony, 23 hours ago

"I have always liked Johnny and I think he was one of the better ones on Sky but his comments over the last year hardly made him sound like an impartial observer. So it would have been quite challenging to say that his behaviour was consistent with being a professional steward."

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Herbert dropped as FIA steward

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