11 replies to this topic

[Blue6ix]

I didn't find any new topics about this subject and those I found, were too old to be most likely discussed about so I decided to bring in a new topic for such conversations.

 

At first who was the FISA/FIA Chief Steward in F1 during the years of 1994 and 1995?

 

And of course maybe in the early season of 1996 before the supreme role of Chief Steward was discontinued or it's role becoming to be really strictly regulated after which normal stewards continued to their respective triumvirate posts.

 

If I'm not too mistaken, it was decided to be so in Nürburgring 1996 race weekend so things were changed right in the middle of that season rather than just wait to the season of 1997 which was the original schedule of things to come.

 

I know that Chief Steward in 1992 was Peter Warr and for the 1993 season Chief Steward was John Fitzpatrick.

 

I also know that Chief Steward in the years of 1987-1991 was John Corsmit who only resigned from that position because of the Balestre and infamous Suzuka 1989-1990 cases and it's very well known shenaningans with Ayrton Senna.

 

That supreme post of Chief Steward, I think was created for the more clean guidelines and better decisions rather than those always hesitating and rotating normal steward posts.

 

I also do have some of the individual Stewards of the Meeting from the different years and I will put those names in this topic eventually.

 

Sometimes and especially in older times, Head Steward of the Meeting was also the Clerk of the Course of the race.

Edited by Blue6ix, 15 October 2018 - 09:21.

[Tim Murray]

Flicking through a selection of old programmes:

1999 Austrian GP

Race director/starter/safety delegate: Charlie Whiting
Clerk of the course: Johannes Demel
International stewards: Bryan Brophy, Jacques Regis
National steward: Walter Jobst

1988 British GP

Race director/starter/safety delegate: Roland Bruynseraede
Clerk of the course (GP): Pierre Aumonier
Stewards (GP): J Corsmit, R Frost, M Southcombe

1985 European GP

Clerk of the course: Peter Cooper
Stewards (GP): J Corsmit, G Couzens, R M Southcombe

1980 US GP (East)

Race director: Malcolm Currie
Clerk of the course: Burdett H Martin
Chairman of stewards: John Bornholdt
Stewards: Bob Hanna, Dave Morrell, Donald C Peters

1978 British GP

Clerk of the course: Dean Delamont
Stewards: P G Cooper, J Corsmit, J Sears, R M Southcombe, T Binford

1964 British GP

Clerk of the course: Dean Delamont
Stewards: Wilfrid Andrews, Maurice Baumgartner, Marquess Camden, John Crampton, John Gott, Prince Metternich-Winneberg

My understanding is that race stewards should be completely independent and so not involved in any way with the actual running of the event. Thus they should never include the Clerk of the Course.

[Blue6ix]

Thanks for making the things more clear about that thing.

 

Even though my only few possible examples when there was such an instance that Head Steward was (Probably?) also the Clerk of the Course, all of them were in the 1950s. And even those bits of information can be missleading because there were not any information for the other Stewards of the Meeting.

[Blue6ix]

Here is some Stewards of the Meetings from some of the different Grand Prix and from the 1990s:

 

1993 German Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: Burdette 'Berdie' Martin, Lars Österlind, Klaus Steinmetz

 

1994 German Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: Klaus Steinmetz, Bryan Brophy, CC Kyriakides

 

1994 Italian Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: DH Ledger, Kari O. Sohlberg, G Ceci

 

1995 Monaco Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: Kari O. Sohlberg, C. Calmes, DH Ledger

 

1995 British Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: R. Peart, R. Frost, A. Lapsley

 

1995 Belgian Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: N. Hoosein, Ch. de Fierlant, S. Mehta

Edited by Blue6ix, 15 October 2018 - 12:41.

[HistoryFan]

wow, so does anyone know who were stewards most often?

[Blue6ix]

There are quite a many stewards who have been quite a many times.

 

Lars Österlind for example...

 

I think he has been in at least over 100 F1 races during these years and Bryan Brophy was definately one of the stewards in the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix. It was said to be his first, but sometimes when someone were staten to be in his first stewarding Grand Prix then that was simply not the case.

Edited by Blue6ix, 15 October 2018 - 12:21.

[RS2000]

In UK Internationals (racing and rallying) there was almost a tradition that the nominated CofC was not the de facto CofC (who had some other title but was the real "player").

[Allan Lupton]

Before Effone became a self-contained show in its own right, the Stewarding arrangements would have been whatever was conventional in the country concerned.

In the UK the organising Club would have appointed a couple or more Stewards and the RAC (or RAC-MSA) appointed one (who took the chair at any Stewards' meeting and had a casting vote if necessary).

As Tim has said the stewards cannot be involved in running the event as they have [judicial] authority over organisers and competitors alike.

The 1964 British GP list above is typical in its mix of racers/former racers and Clerks/former Clerks who would be appropriate arbiters if required.

[Ibsey]

 

1994 Italian Grand Prix

 

Stewards of the Meeting: DH Ledger, Kari O. Sohlberg, G Ceci

 

 

Reportedly the Clerk of the Course at this race was 82 years old, which I found out when researching for my upcoming book.

 

After Berger crashed heavily during the morning warm-up for this event race officials showed their ineptitude by treating Berger in the runoff area close to where he crashed rather than moving him to a position of safety first. The approach to that section of track was 200mph, and race stewards felt it unnecessary to stop the session whilst Berger was receiving medical attention. "I don't know who was responsible for allowing that to happen" said Berger afterwards, "but I don't think it was acceptable. If they'd moved me behind the barrier, OK, carry on with the session – but not when I'm lying there in the run-off area with other people all around me. Can you imagine if someone had a brake failure?"[1]

 

 

Almost 10 minutes later the session was eventually stopped to allow the ambulance carrying Berger back onto the track. 

[1]  Autosport 15/9/1994 page 23

 

 

Found a few more examples like this during 1994. 

[D-Type]

I'm finding this thread very informative.  I thought "Stewards" was simply another word for the Officials running a meeting and not a specialist function.
In Grand Prix racing when did the stewards make the transition from being from the country running a GP to the present group of international FIA appointees.  I'm thinking of some of the most controversial races: Monaco 1984, Suzuka 1989 & 90 for example.

Edited by D-Type, 01 February 2020 - 22:48.

[GMiranda]

It would be extremely interesting to hear stories from these men. I presume most of them have passed away or are quite old, because stewards were, generally, people with a lot of experienc ein motor racing. John Corsmit, for example, is well-known in Portugal, as he was involved on the homologations of Vila Real and Vila do Conde but, sadly, he died a few years ago.

 

Do you know some of them yet alive that I may reach through email, please?

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by D-Type
.....In Grand Prix racing when did the stewards make the transition from being from the country running a GP to the present group of international FIA appointees.  I'm thinking of some of the most controversial races: Monaco 1984, Suzuka 1989 & 90 for example.

Surely later than that, if the list for the '95 British GP is a guide...

Blue6ix has posted that 'R. Frost' was one there, that would surely be Ron Frost, the head man of the MANZ organisation.