Don't usually agree with jackie but this time he is spot on, FIA run F1 like a circus there's no consistency and even when they try to be consistent its usually over an incident that was completely different to another one.

This change the stewards every race meeting, is just move proof of it.

Whilst I agree with his call for a permanent steward, his example of poor management shoots his argument in the foot!

What irritates me is things like ignoring the "2 wheels on the track rule". Hockhenheim had everyone off-roading right from practice 1, just routinely running wide on exit to keep the speed up. Right through quali, and then all through the race too. Then Vettel does it making a pass and it's a penalty. I agree it should have been a penalty, but drivers should have been receiving warnings for it the other times and penalties if they continued doing it. Then there was Massa at Singapore, just cutting corners with all four wheels out of the lines to try get speed on the guy in front. Repeatedly.

All professional sports have "Paid,Qualified,Professional," officiating, F1 should be no different. I agree some sports are better than others but you have to agree most are very good. The days of not having to pay the officials to travel and being a steward was a plum are gone. This is a mulit billion dollar sport now, get with the act and make it professional. Charlie has too many hats to fill and can not fill all properly, reduce his capacity to one or two responsibilities and then get other people to do the rest. Just as Bernie will end the one man F1 circus, the officiating has to meet the new era standards and the FIA is really lacking in its responsibility to do so!

@richard
I don't really follow your reasoning - are you saying you would rather retain the present random system of local selection, rather than a chance for more consistency? And I fully agree that refs in the Premier, and other professional leagues don't always get it right. But they are, at least, trained to a high level - and for F1 etc, with the video technology already in use in motorsport, the ability to quickly make a decision is already there. It's "just" being able to make the right decision that is often woefully absent. There's more than enough money sloshing around to fund this.

JS has a point.

The whole Brazillian results GP mess wouldn't have existed if the FIA made the signs and sensor posts to their correct places in races. The way they do it now is bound to cause controversies and questions, Bra GP 2012 is a great example of that.

Had they placed proper sensor posts to flag posts of marshalls, there would've been no problem. Can't blame confused fans and Ferrari seeking for clarifications.

The reason Sebastian's world championship was "questioned" on a Wednesday after the final race is because Formula 1's "most important team," Ferrari, had asked for a "clarification" of an incomplete video that made it appear that Sebastian "may have" passed under yellow. Also Formula 1's biggest whiner and 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso was whining about it too.
Ferrari and Alonso had put the whole sport in a questionable light to many fans by showing off this propaganda video to the public.
The FIA thought is was necessary to put Ferraris nonsense in its place to PREVENT ALIENATING F1 FANS.

sp. sorry if i was not clear, so here goes..

4 stewards are required at each race. i would envisage a bank of 6 professional stewards. 6, so as to allow for illness or other problems. the 4 stewards would be present for every race, providing a standard consistency over the season.

Oh, I forgot to add... Jackie, they aren't gonna make you the one sole "professional" to judge every race like you apparently are wanting. We've seen your inconsistencies. Someone like Mika Hakkinen would do much better.

Sir Jackie Stewart certainly is right.

How on earth is it possible that in this high-tech multi million dollar sport the yellow warning lights are still on while the flag marshalls have been instructed to show the green flag?????