Derek Warwick suspended from F1 Canadian GP stewarding duties

The FIA has suspended Derek Warwick from his stewarding duties at the F1 Canadian Grand Prix over "unauthorised media comments". 

Warwick was due to be part of the stewards panel in Montreal for Round 10 of the 2025 F1 season but he has been replaced by Enrique Bernoldi for this weekend. Bernoldi will officiate from the FIA's remote base in Geneva. 

F1's governing body confirmed Warwick's suspension on Friday evening but said he would "resume his duties as a steward" at the Austrian Grand Prix later this month. 

"Following recent unauthorised media comments, the FIA has taken the decision to suspend Derek Warwick from his duties as driver steward for this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix," the FIA said in a statement. 

"He will be replaced by Enrique Bernoldi who will be officiating from the Remote Operations Centre in Geneva for the remainder of the event."

The FIA added that Warwick "acknowledges that his comments were ill-advised in his role as an FIA steward and has apologised". 

What did Warwick say?

The FIA did not specifically refer to any media comments, but they are understood to relate to an interview Warwick gave to a betting platform in which he shared his opinion on the Spanish Grand Prix. 

Warwick weighed in on the penalty that was handed out to Red Bull's Max Verstappen. 

“Should he have done what he did, in turn 5 with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for it? Yes," Warwick said. “He got 10 seconds and 3 points, which only brings him 1 point away from a race ban.

“So people are arguing that Vettel, got a 10 second drive through in Baku with Lewis Hamilton. But he intentionally drove into Lewis, whereas if you actually look at the video, it looks to me that although he dived in, he then did turn away from George, but the momentum carried him into George.

“I'm not condoning it, I'm not saying it's right, it's absolutely wrong, and the FIA quite rightly gave him a penalty.”

He added: “I think they got it about right actually. I think a lot of people would say he should have got a ban as an example to young karters and they are probably right, but I feel the penalty was spot on.

“You've got to look at each individual incident, on their own merit. I thought it was very questionable. It's not what I like to see.” 

Warwick also suggested that Lewis Hamilton may already be thinking about retiring following a tricky start to life at Ferrari. 

Earlier this year, former grand prix driver Johnny Herbert was dropped from his role as a steward because the FIA viewed his duties in the role and that of a media pundit were "incompatible."