Wolff lectures 'moaning' Grosjean on penalty plaint

Mercedes' Toto Wolff forcefully put Romain Grosjean in his place after the Haas driver complained of being blocked by Lewis Hamilton in Saturday's qualifying session.

A stewards investigation after the session concluded that Grosjean had not been impeded by Hamilton's presence at Turn 16, and that the incident required no further action.

The decision infuriated Grosjean who was  adamant that he had lost time behind the Mercedes, suggesting the stewards had shown leniency towards the poleman in order to avoid disrupting the fight for the world championship.

Commenting on the matter, Wolff said that Grosjean was perhaps not in the best position to judge others actions given his past involvement in several controversial on-track incidents initiated at the time by his recklessness.

"There are some that moan all the time," said Wolff. "They just continue moaning. I don’t want to even comment. 

"If Romain Grosjean comes out and starts asking for penalties for other drivers, you should rather look at his track record. He should be happy he is driving in F1." 

• Grosjean: Stewards lenient with Hamilton due to title fight

Haas boss Guenther Steiner stood up for his driver however, insisting that the outcome of the stewards' decision would have perhaps been quite different if Grosjean had blocked Hamilton.

"If you step back and ask yourself, what would they have done if Romain had done that to Hamilton? That I think should answer that. 

"Something needs to be done," said Steiner. " Because if he says, ‘that wouldn’t have made your position better’. I know.

"But if we would have impeded Hamilton, if we get penalised, it means a lot to us because we go back on the grid and we lose points. We both have something to lose, so don’t do it." 

"We need to get a little bit more equal because there’s always a discussion, how do we bring the field closer together? 

"We need to get it together, and there seems to be never any consistency with the penalties. It’s always who is who."

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