FIA Steward Ousted After Ties With Betting Company - Report

Popular FIA steward Johnny Herbert has been removed from his role by the Formula 1 governing body, reportedly due to his ties with a betting company according to trusted outlet Motorsport.com. The former F1 driver made headlines last season for an allegedly harsh penalty imposed on Max Verstappen during the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Herbert has been known for his candid opinions on matters relating to F1, including opinions on drivers. In addition, he has also been known to share his views on matters relating to FIA penalties and other decisions in collaboration with a betting company.
Thus, the governing body released a statement on Wednesday, announcing the exit of Herbert. It read:
“It is with regret that we announce today that Johnny Herbert will no longer fulfil the position of F1 driver steward for the FIA.
“Johnny is widely respected and brought invaluable experience and expertise to his role. 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.”
Motorsport.com reports that Herbert was ousted due to his links with a betting company. In recent years, many ex-F1 drivers have engaged in deals where they comment on controversial decisions, aiming to have their remarks amplified by the media to promote the entity they partner with.
The FIA's decision to part ways with Herbert follows single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis' confirmation that the governing body will eventually employ full-time paid stewards. This move comes after heavy criticism from drivers last year over inconsistent rulings, prompting calls for dedicated stewards. Addressing the matter, Tombazis said:
"It's probably getting a bit unfair to just rely on people to do it out of their good heart, and that's what we have now. We want to go to a more professional body in the future. That's not to exclude volunteers, but it's to have a body that can spend the Monday morning after a race analysing every single decision, making sure it was reached correctly, seeing what could be improved, etc.
"That will be combined with a more powerful remote centre, where more monitoring will take place for range of offences, and all of that will be linked together. That's the general target.
"Ultimately, [the officials department] will bring up a wider pool of people available to do it, and will provide that they will have more time to spend on analysing everything and so on. Just to be clear, that's without taking anything away from the group we have now, which is very experienced and has been serving for 20 years."