Formula 1
FIA under fire for appointing Pirro as Abu Dhabi steward
The appointment as steward of an Italian driver with close ties to Ferrari has raised some eyebrows within the F1 paddock in Abu Dhabi. Emanuele Pirro, who contested Grands Prix in the early 90s for the Scuderia Italia team, is making his first ...
GMM
Edited: Nov 13, 2010, 1:11 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The appointment as steward of an Italian driver with close ties to Ferrari has raised some eyebrows within the F1 paddock in Abu Dhabi.
Emanuele Pirro, who contested Grands Prix in the early 90s for the Scuderia Italia team, is making his first appearance as an FIA official this weekend for the 2010 world championship showdown.
48-year-old Pirro now races vintage Ferrari cars, and on his website is a picture of a 1971 Ferrari 512M with the caption 'All Italian boys love Ferraris'.
The news has led to claims he should not be adjudicating at a Grand Prix where a Ferrari driver - Fernando Alonso - stands to win the title.
An FIA spokeswoman told the Daily Mail: "We selected the stewards some while ago."
Bild correspondent Tobias Holtkamp wrote: "Imagine it's the World Cup final, with Italy playing Germany. And the referee is from Rome.
"It's unthinkable. Only in Formula One is it possible."
Race director Charlie Whiting responded: "I have no problem with it.
"A few years ago Max Mosley as FIA president ordered that only stewards not associated with a team or driver can be appointed.
"In practice, this was unfortunately not sustainable. There simply are not enough to choose from."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Heidfeld eyes Renault while Sutil set to stay at Force India
Next article Abu Dhabi GP: Practice 2 times
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
GMM
The season is still very long - Rosberg
Formula 1
Formula 1
The season is still very long - Rosberg
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Formula 1
Formula 1
Jules Bianchi's father speaks of family's continued hopes
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
Formula 1
Formula 1
Chinese GP
Sauber under no illusions about constructors' position
More from
Fernando Alonso
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin knew before Mexico GP it would not finish, Honda brings new countermeasures
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Aston Martin knew before Mexico GP it would not finish, Honda brings new countermeasures
More from
Ferrari
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
11 h
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Latest news
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
IndyCar 2026 season review: ECR
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 h
Toto Wolff reflects on Mercedes’ non-title years: ‘We weren’t complete losers’
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 4 h
Renger van der Zande moves to IMSA’s LMP2 class full-time with Tower Motorsports
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Homestead
4 h
Nick Sanchez will compete for 2027 NASCAR Truck title with McAnally-Hilgemann
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe