Lewis is complacent over F1 safety, says Stewart

Stewart, the three-time world champion, spoke out after seeing only six drivers finish the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, won by Britain's Lewis Hamilton.

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However, behind Hamilton, car after car spun to early retirement as the banning of driver aids — including traction control and electronic engine braking — wrought mayhem.

Stewart, who watched the helter-skelter action in Melbourne, fears the sport's next death waits just around the next corner and urged the British sensation to do his bit by joining his 'trade union' — the Grand Prix Drivers' Association.

'Somebody is going to get killed,' insisted Stewart. 'It has been 13 years and 11 months since the death of Ayrton Senna. You can't go on without something going wrong somewhere.

'There will be even more accidents now that traction control is gone. It is complacent of Lewis not to be in the GPDA.'

Stewart, speaking ahead of Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, added: 'Hamilton has been ill-advised. The one thing you have to have among the competitors is good communication.

'When you are out there and somebody tells you that, for example, the barriers at Monza do not need to be further from the chicane than they are now, they don't understand that an interlocking wheel suddenly launches a car and you come down upside down on top of the barrier.'

Referring to the accident involving his former Tyrrell team-mate, Francois Cevert, in practice at Watkins Glen, America, in 1973, Stewart said: 'That's how Francois was killed. He was cut in half. If you have ever seen that you want the barrier further back. That is why the GPDA is important.'

Safety improvements mean Senna was the last F1 driver to be killed, at Imola in 1994, a day after Roland Ratzenberger. The previous deaths came 12 years before.

However, the issue is to the fore again, with the outlawing of driver aids leading to increased levels of rear-wheel spin.

Stewart added: 'You have to prioritise your time. Lewis might have to do commercial appearances, but nobody did more of that than I did. Lewis is such a valuable asset to the sport. One of the reasons I got so much done in terms of safety was because I was the guy at that time.'

Several current drivers, including Jenson Button and Mark Webber, have also criticised Hamilton's decision to shun the GPDA, who regularly meet at races to discuss safety issues. Michael Schumacher was a director, though world champion Raikkonen is not a member.

Stewart added: 'The moment somebody dies there is a new awakening. These guys don't know how to deal with a death. They have never been up close. They have never been to a body when it is still in the car, never had to pack that person's clothes because the wife or the girlfriend can't face it.

'I pray they never have to learn that. So far we have been incredibly lucky. We are on the slate to have a big shunt.'