Marc van Geel was one of the stewards on duty at Zandvoort last weekend. Van Geel is one of three Dutchmen who can be deployed by the FIA during the Dutch Grand Prix. At any moment on the track where there is a need to watch, the rotating race directors Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas contact the stewards.

"They submit to us: can you watch this?" Van Geel explains the procedure to the NOS."If we think that a penalty belongs to that, we pronounce that penalty. The match officials do not change anything about that." Van Geel admits that it is never completely watertight, purely because you can cut someone off in many more ways and it can also be portrayed in many different ways.

Masi

After the controversial Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race director Michael Masi was forced to step down and was replaced by the duo of Wittich and Freitas, who act as race directors on a rotating basis. Van Geel says that this season will tell if it was a good move to let Masi go. He is positive about the new duo, however. "I have the idea that both men are on the same wavelength. Because one must remain consistent. There has to be a lot of consultation to find one line that you want to stick to."

Van Geel says that he and his three fellow stewards often quickly find themselves on the same page and try to punish consistently. They then also look at the history to choose the most appropriate punishment. "But every situation is different. You never have the same incidents or events one on one."

Respectful

On Friday the Dutch steward called Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz to him, after the Briton, with all the risks that entailed, had steered into Sainz who wanted to overtake him. Van Geel says: "Then I want to know: how do you look at it, what is your vision? We have decided not to do anything with it, but we hear them at the same time, so they hear from each other who says what. In motor sport, this is done with a great deal of respect for each other."