Warwick won the Le Mans 24 Hours, is a former president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club and is one of the most senior driver stewards in F1.
An ex-F1 driver is always one of the four stewards officiating at every grand prix.
Last week Warwick was quoted as saying that a penalty given to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix after the Dutchman apparently deliberately collided with Mercedes’ George Russell was “right”.
On a gambling website, Warwick said: “Should he have done what he did, in Turn Five with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for that? Yes.
“It seems to me that, although he dove in, he then did turn away from George, but momentum pushed him against George. It is absolutely wrong and the FIA was right to give him a penalty.”
Warwick is the second driver steward to be punished by the FIA for commenting on races in the past six months.
In January Johnny Herbert was dropped by the FIA, which said his “duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible”.
The FIA’s decision to suspend Warwick came a day after controversial statute changes were passed by the organisation’s general assembly.
The changes are said by critics to “risk further contributing to the erosion of the FIA’s reputation for competent and transparent governance” under president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Ben Sulayem’s time in office since 2021 has been marked by a series of controversies, the majority of which have been focused on the erosion of accountability and good governance and the introduction of measures that enhance his power and reduce oversight.
When there are questions about how stewards arrived at decisions during a grand prix, the FIA refuses to comment on the basis that stewards are “independent from the FIA”.
Superstar U.S. gymnast Simone Biles has apologized to Riley Gaines after calling the outspoken former NCAA swimmer “truly sick” and a “sore loser” in recent days during their public argument concerning transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
“I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport,” Biles wrote Tuesday morning on X. “The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.”
Gaines was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference swimmer at Kentucky. At the 2022 NCAA national championships, Gaines and Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, tied for fifth place in the 200 freestyle finals, but only Thomas got to pose on the podium with the fifth-place trophy.
At the same meet, Thomas won the 500 freestyle to become the first out transgender woman to claim a Division I title. But in February and in response to an executive order by President Trump, the NCAA changed its policy to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.
Gaines has become a leading voice for preventing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. She and more than a dozen other former college swimmers filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, claiming that the organization had violated their Title IX rights by allowing Thomas to compete in the 2022 championships,
Last week, Gaines reposted an X post from the Minnesota State High School League that congratulated the Champlin Park High softball team — which made national news because its star pitcher is transgender — for winning the 4A state championship.
“Comments off lol,” Gaines wrote about the league’s post. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Biles reposted Gaines’ post the same day and didn’t hold back in expressing her views on the matter.
“@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” Biles wrote. “Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!
“But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”
Biles added in a separate post, “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Days later, the 11-time Olympic medalist returned to X, seemingly with a cooler head, to apologize for getting “personal” in her response to Gaines and attempt to explain her feelings again.
“These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect,” Biles wrote. “I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports. My objection is to … singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful.
“Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over. I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.”
Gaines responded on X with a post in which she accepted “Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me” but stated that “you can’t have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you’re ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them.”
I accept Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me. I know she knows what this feels like. She’s still the greatest female gymnast of all time.
A couple of things. Sports ARE inclusive by nature. Anyone can and everyone SHOULD play… https://t.co/V8YbMvs3xf
“I agree with you that the blame is on the lawmakers and leaders at the top,” Gaines added. “Precisely why I’m suing the NCAA and support candidates who vow to stand with women. … I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had.”
Britain’s top football host will not front 2026 World Cup coverage and is ‘bowing out by mutual agreement’ after backlash to a social media post about Zionism.
Gary Lineker, a former England captain and the face of football on British television for more than two decades, will leave the BBC, the public broadcaster said in a statement on Monday.
Lineker, 64, had been due to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the BBC, but his early departure comes after he apologised last week for sharing a social media post about Zionism which featured a picture of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult.
Lineker said that he deleted the posts after learning of the offensive references.
According to multiple British media reports, the high-profile host is “bowing out by mutual agreement”.
He rose to become the BBC’s highest-paid star after presenting its Match of the Day (MOTD) highlights show for 25 years. The BBC announced last November that he would step down from MOTD this year, but carry on working for it until 2026.
“Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season,” BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement.
Lineker repeated his apology on Monday, saying he would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic.
“I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,” he said. “Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”
Gary Lineker is leaving the BBC after 26 years of service, the public broadcaster confirmed on Monday [File: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA via Getty Images]
Voicing Palestinian support
In recent years, Lineker’s desire to put forward his political views on social media has caused headaches for the BBC, which has strict rules on impartiality.
He was temporarily taken off air in 2023 after he criticised the previous government’s immigration policy on social media. In 2018, he opposed Brexit and called for a second referendum.
But it was Lineker’s support for the Palestinians affected by the war on Gaza that most recently brought him into conflict with the BBC.
Lineker had already caused friction at the public broadcaster when he recently said Israel was to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict, because it turned the occupied territory into an “outdoor prison”.
Speaking on May 9 in an interview with The Telegraph at the Football Business Awards, just days before he was accused of the anti-Semitic social post on X, Lineker expressed that his issues are with the Israeli government rather than Jewish people.
“Obviously, October 7 was awful, but it’s very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people,” he said in the interview with The Telegraph, which was published last Thursday, on May 15.
“Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don’t – and that is where it’s wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing,” Lineker added.
In the same interview, the TV host also disputed whether Israel could justifiably argue that it was still acting in self-defence. “I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don’t think they’ve helped their own hostage situation at all,” Lineker said.
“People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians.”
The former striker played for England for eight years until 1992 and had been a top scorer for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He is also the co-founder of a podcasting production business, Goalhanger, which makes series such as the podcasts The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Football.
Lineker will leave his role at the BBC on Sunday after his final episode of Match of the Day.
Gary Lineker, left, and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer look at a football shirt during a reception ahead of St George’s Day at 10 Downing Street, London, Britain on April 22, 2025 [Stefan Rousseau/Pool via Reuters]
Gregg Wallace fired by BBC over MasterChef inappropriate comments as he breaks silence
Gregg Wallace has been fired by the BBC after he was accused of making inappropriate sexual comments and jokes over a 13-year period
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Canadian Grand Prix: FIA suspends race steward Derek Warwick for media comments
Warwick won the Le Mans 24 Hours, is a former president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club and is one of the most senior driver stewards in F1.
An ex-F1 driver is always one of the four stewards officiating at every grand prix.
Last week Warwick was quoted as saying that a penalty given to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix after the Dutchman apparently deliberately collided with Mercedes’ George Russell was “right”.
On a gambling website, Warwick said: “Should he have done what he did, in Turn Five with George Russell? Absolutely not. Did he get a penalty for that? Yes.
“It seems to me that, although he dove in, he then did turn away from George, but momentum pushed him against George. It is absolutely wrong and the FIA was right to give him a penalty.”
Warwick is the second driver steward to be punished by the FIA for commenting on races in the past six months.
In January Johnny Herbert was dropped by the FIA, which said his “duties as an FIA steward and that of a media pundit were incompatible”.
The FIA’s decision to suspend Warwick came a day after controversial statute changes were passed by the organisation’s general assembly.
The changes are said by critics to “risk further contributing to the erosion of the FIA’s reputation for competent and transparent governance” under president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Ben Sulayem’s time in office since 2021 has been marked by a series of controversies, the majority of which have been focused on the erosion of accountability and good governance and the introduction of measures that enhance his power and reduce oversight.
When there are questions about how stewards arrived at decisions during a grand prix, the FIA refuses to comment on the basis that stewards are “independent from the FIA”.
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Simone Biles apologizes for comments toward Riley Gaines
Superstar U.S. gymnast Simone Biles has apologized to Riley Gaines after calling the outspoken former NCAA swimmer “truly sick” and a “sore loser” in recent days during their public argument concerning transgender athletes competing in women’s sports.
“I’ve always believed competitive equity & inclusivity are both essential in sport,” Biles wrote Tuesday morning on X. “The current system doesn’t adequately balance these important principles, which often leads to frustration and heated exchanges, and it didn’t help for me to get personal with Riley, which I apologize for.”
Gaines was a two-time All-Southeastern Conference swimmer at Kentucky. At the 2022 NCAA national championships, Gaines and Pennsylvania’s Lia Thomas, a transgender woman, tied for fifth place in the 200 freestyle finals, but only Thomas got to pose on the podium with the fifth-place trophy.
At the same meet, Thomas won the 500 freestyle to become the first out transgender woman to claim a Division I title. But in February and in response to an executive order by President Trump, the NCAA changed its policy to limit competition in women’s sports to athletes who were assigned female at birth.
Gaines has become a leading voice for preventing transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports. She and more than a dozen other former college swimmers filed a lawsuit against the NCAA, claiming that the organization had violated their Title IX rights by allowing Thomas to compete in the 2022 championships,
Last week, Gaines reposted an X post from the Minnesota State High School League that congratulated the Champlin Park High softball team — which made national news because its star pitcher is transgender — for winning the 4A state championship.
“Comments off lol,” Gaines wrote about the league’s post. “To be expected when your star player is a boy.”
Biles reposted Gaines’ post the same day and didn’t hold back in expressing her views on the matter.
“@Riley_Gaines_ You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race,” Biles wrote. “Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!!
“But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!”
Biles added in a separate post, “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”
Days later, the 11-time Olympic medalist returned to X, seemingly with a cooler head, to apologize for getting “personal” in her response to Gaines and attempt to explain her feelings again.
“These are sensitive, complicated issues that I truly don’t have the answers or solutions to, but I believe it starts with empathy and respect,” Biles wrote. “I was not advocating for policies that compromise fairness in women’s sports. My objection is to … singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful.
“Individual athletes — especially kids — should never be the focus of criticism of a flawed system they have no control over. I believe sports organizations have a responsibility to come up with rules supporting inclusion while maintaining fair competition. We all want a future for sport that is fair, inclusive, and respectful.”
Gaines responded on X with a post in which she accepted “Simone’s apology for the personal attacks including the ones where she body-shamed me” but stated that “you can’t have any empathy and compassion for the girls if you’re ignoring when young men are harming or abusing them.”
“I agree with you that the blame is on the lawmakers and leaders at the top,” Gaines added. “Precisely why I’m suing the NCAA and support candidates who vow to stand with women. … I welcome you to the fight to support fair sports and a future for female athletes. Little girls deserve the same shot to achieve that you had.”
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Gary Lineker leaves BBC amid anti-Semitism row, pro-Palestinian comments | Football News
Britain’s top football host will not front 2026 World Cup coverage and is ‘bowing out by mutual agreement’ after backlash to a social media post about Zionism.
Gary Lineker, a former England captain and the face of football on British television for more than two decades, will leave the BBC, the public broadcaster said in a statement on Monday.
Lineker, 64, had been due to cover the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the BBC, but his early departure comes after he apologised last week for sharing a social media post about Zionism which featured a picture of a rat, historically used as an anti-Semitic insult.
Lineker said that he deleted the posts after learning of the offensive references.
According to multiple British media reports, the high-profile host is “bowing out by mutual agreement”.
He rose to become the BBC’s highest-paid star after presenting its Match of the Day (MOTD) highlights show for 25 years. The BBC announced last November that he would step down from MOTD this year, but carry on working for it until 2026.
“Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season,” BBC director general Tim Davie said in a statement.
Lineker repeated his apology on Monday, saying he would never consciously repost anything anti-Semitic.
“I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am,” he said. “Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action.”
Voicing Palestinian support
In recent years, Lineker’s desire to put forward his political views on social media has caused headaches for the BBC, which has strict rules on impartiality.
He was temporarily taken off air in 2023 after he criticised the previous government’s immigration policy on social media. In 2018, he opposed Brexit and called for a second referendum.
But it was Lineker’s support for the Palestinians affected by the war on Gaza that most recently brought him into conflict with the BBC.
Lineker had already caused friction at the public broadcaster when he recently said Israel was to blame for the origins of the Gaza conflict, because it turned the occupied territory into an “outdoor prison”.
Speaking on May 9 in an interview with The Telegraph at the Football Business Awards, just days before he was accused of the anti-Semitic social post on X, Lineker expressed that his issues are with the Israeli government rather than Jewish people.
“Obviously, October 7 was awful, but it’s very important to know your history and to study the massacres that happened prior to this, many of them against the Palestinian people,” he said in the interview with The Telegraph, which was published last Thursday, on May 15.
“Yes, Israelis have a right to defend themselves. But it appears that Palestinians don’t – and that is where it’s wrong. Palestinians are caged in this outdoor prison in Gaza, and now it’s an outdoor prison that they’re bombing,” Lineker added.
In the same interview, the TV host also disputed whether Israel could justifiably argue that it was still acting in self-defence. “I understand that they needed to avenge, but I don’t think they’ve helped their own hostage situation at all,” Lineker said.
“People say it’s a complex issue, but I don’t think it is. It’s inevitable that the Israeli occupation was going to cause massive problems, and I just feel for the Palestinians.”
The former striker played for England for eight years until 1992 and had been a top scorer for Leicester City, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur in the 1980s and early 1990s.
He is also the co-founder of a podcasting production business, Goalhanger, which makes series such as the podcasts The Rest Is History and The Rest Is Football.
Lineker will leave his role at the BBC on Sunday after his final episode of Match of the Day.
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