George Russell believes Formula 1 would benefit from stewards following the example of football referees when making some in-race decisions.
The sport's rule enforcers have come under some scrutiny this season with plenty of unrest reported among drivers. Everyone acknowledges that race directors Niels Wittich and Eduardo Freitas are new to the job, but still there is a feeling that some are running out of patience.
Particularly irritating to some has been the rather militant policing of track limits in recent races, particularly at the Austrian Grand Prix. There is set to be more of the same this weekend as a note from the stewards warned drivers that they will be enforcing it again at Paul Ricard.
Lando Norris was particularly vocal about it, branding track limits rules as "a bit stupid" as they punish drivers even for genuine mistakes. Sebastian Vettel even walked out of a drivers' meeting in Austria as he grew frustrated over a lengthy debate which was reportedly going nowhere.
Discussing the feeling among drivers about the way the stewards handle such issues, Russell told reporters: "They are doing a good job of sticking to the letter of the law, but sometimes things need to evolve. I do think we need a bit more open-mindedness between all of us.
"We need to work together on this and we need to evolve that set of regulations, the sporting regulations, and we need to work together to do that. Just because there's a regulation doesn't mean it's the right regulation."
The Brit went on to suggest that football referees, who often use their own discretion when applying the rules of the sport in a match, might be a good example for F1 race directors and stewards to follow. He added: "Racing is a very dynamic sport, and you just need to... I don't want to say look at it case-by-case, but it's not quite as simple as saying 'this is what it says in the regulations and this is what we are going to stick to' when it's a battle.
"In football, you can't say if a player tackles in this manner he is going to get a yellow card because every tackle is different. They try to have a guideline, but not a black-and-white 'you can tackle like this' or 'you can't tackle like that'.
"Potentially that is what we need to be taking forward in the racing approach. It's very difficult, but I am sure over time we will get to a more united front. It's a very difficult job that the race director has and ultimately the job is to police the rules."
