Montoya Calls for Permanent Stewards

Juan Pablo Montoya reiterated his calls for permanent race stewards to be introduced into Formula One after saying he is still unhappy Michael Schumacher escaped punishment in the San Marino Grand Prix.

Montoya is still angry that Schumacher got away with his move on the opening lap at Imola, with the Williams driver claiming he was deliberately rammed into and that his Ferrari rival has broken the 'rules of combat' by blocking him twice.

Colombian Montoya is calling for a review of the judging process and wants the same stewards to be on duty at all Grands Prix in order to ensure consistency.

"You need more consistency," said Montoya. "We have been pushing to have the same stewards every weekend. I think everybody believes that would be a good thing. It's about how the things are handled.

"You are meant to do one move on the straight and after the first chicane he went all the way to the left and all the way to the right, so how do you handle that? That's two moves. We need to know what we are and are not allowed to do.

"I don't mind closing the door and things like that but I do mind when you actually hit someone off the circuit. You look at his hands, the way they went, you can't do anything. People complain there is no overtaking, it is boring, but you try to do some overtaking and when you are taken off the circuit nothing happens. How do you allow overtaking when you make moves like that?

"What are you allowed to do and what are you not allowed to do. I think it needs to be clearer. But we have to have some sort of rules. If it is out of hand like this with rules, then without rules it would be outrageous."

Montoya's Williams-BMW teammate Ralf Schumacher backed his brother Michael over the incident, but accepted Formula One needs regular stewards to adjudicate on similar problems in future.

"The stewards are trying to do a good job, which they do most of the time, but not being racing drivers makes it difficult for them to judge what is right or what is wrong," Schumacher said.