Max Verstappen’s father points at FIFA in hopes to improve controversial aspect of F1

Former F1 driver and Max Verstappen's father Jos Verstappen suggested that the FIA implement a system like FIFA where they appoint permanent stewards for the races. The sport's governing body has been called into question on several occasions in the recently concluded 2024 season over their decision-making.

Currently, the FIA appoints stewards on a race-by-race basis and gets paid a minimum amount for their services. The rotating nature of the race stewards does cause an issue in implementing the rules consistently as they can sometimes be left up to interpretation.

While speaking with Formule1.nl, former Benetton driver Jos Verstappen pointed out that having permanent stewards like in FIFA would be a better idea as he suggested:

"Choose a pool of permanent stewards and pay and value them well. Now they get a small amount to be at a race and some do it because they can use the money. But I think you have to find people who are not dependent on that at all.

"In football, you have FIFA referees, they get training and courses and are paid well. That should also be the case in Formula 1 of course. In this area, the FIA can still learn a lot from FIFA.”

Verstappen also criticized the governing body for their over-monitoring and policing of the swear words used by the drivers as he added:

“Well, the FIA obviously overdid it with those penalties. You can’t give a penalty every time someone says f**k. Do you know what I would have done if I had been the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem? I would have taken the drivers aside and said: ‘Guys, watch your language’. But to play it all out like that through the media…"

Jos Verstappen gives his take on Max Verstappen getting criticized in F1

Former F1 driver Jos Verstappen stated that the Red Bull driver Max Verstappen only gets better if someone criticizes him in an unjustified manner.

As quoted by the aforementioned source, the 52-year-old gave his take on his son's driving being called into question and reflected:

“Max only gets better from unjustified criticism, more irritated. That's how he is. We saw that in Brazil, for example. So let them do it. If you're talking about his way of defending: other drivers understand it. There was a world title at stake."

Verstappen was called into question for his controversial moves while defending against his title rival and McLaren rival Lando Norris in the USA and Mexico, where he went a little bit overboard.

However, the discourse proved to be inconsequential in the overall picture of the title race as Max Verstappen went on to win his fourth title from Norris by a margin of 63 points.