Stewart: "F1 is Self-Destructing, Needs Change!"

During the past two years of Formula One, there was the spy-gate between McLaren and Ferrari, the lie-gate with Lewis Hamilton being asked to lie to the F1 stewards, the political drama between the FIA and the teams' alliance, and now the crash-gate. Will it ever stop?

Regardless of the answer to that question, the Great Circle did nothing in the past couple of years but to self-destruct itself month after month. Every time things seemed to be going on the right path, something like this would happen and capture all the attention.

With Renault agreeing not to dispute the charges made by the FIA in the race-fixing scandal regarding the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the French manufacturer practically – not officially – admitted to their wrongdoings. As a result, Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds left the Enstone based team and are likely to disappear forever from the Great Circle.

Sir Jackie Stewart, like every other true racing fan out there, admitted his disgust for the level of sportiveness inside F1, and urged the people still involved in the sport to take immediate actions and make a change for the better. And, just like every other time he spoke openly about F1, Stewart threw FIA president Max Mosley into the equation.

“What I do know is that there is something fundamentally rotten and wrong at the heart of Formula One. Never in my experience has F1 been in such a mood of self-destruction. Millions of fans are amazed, if not disgusted, at a sport which now goes from crisis to crisis with everyone blaming everyone else,” said Stewart.

“There is a nervousness and fear within the teams, which is not healthy. There is no respect or trust for the individuals, or the institutions that are meant to regulate and govern the sport. There needs to be a fundamental reform of all the structures of governance and management of F1, from both a regulatory and commercial standpoint,” added the Scottish champion, making an obvious referral to the October 23rd FIA elections.