Johnny Herbert dropped as FIA Formula 1 race steward

The departure of Herbert, the F1 driver turned FIA steward and occasional media pundit, was announced on X today by the sport's governing body, the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile: “It is with regret that we announce today that Johnny Herbert will no longer fulfil the position of F1 driver steward for the FIA. Johnny is widely respected and brought invaluable experience and expertise to his role.

"However, after discussion, it was mutually agreed that his duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible. We thank him for his service and wish him well in his future endeavours," concluded the statement without offering specific reasons for the splitting of ways.

The three-time Grand Prix winner was often quoted by this website as Herbert's opinions and insights, often written after a spell in the F1 frontline which FIA stewarding always is and tends to be.

Whether you agree with him or not, his non-mainstream media angles, much like the likes of Jacques Villeneuve and Juan Pablo Montoya, must not be ignored and are also an important part of the modern F1 narrative. A welcome counter to the former F1 drivers shilling and largely sold out to the mainstream media that covers our sport for their own interests and agendas.

For us as recipients of Herbert's quotes which we often publish, he was doing a good job explaining the hardships the FIA faces in the Piranha pool that is the F1 paddock. A proper insider's view of the delicate balancing act F1's governing body faces. We will miss that important addition to the F1 narrative. AKA getting the FIA side of the story.

Herbert explained the complexities of being the FIA in a recent interview with the media team at Plejmo.com: “F1 teams are all trying to steer things that favour them and the FIA gets the brunt of the criticism because they are not doing what the teams want them to do to try to gain an advantage. They all play that game.

"It is a very difficult job for the FIA who make the rules but in conjunction with the teams and drivers to come up with the guidelines," revealed Herbert, of the massive challenges facing the sport's governing body.