Steiner and Magnussen unhappy with 'inconsistent' stewards

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Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner says that he is unhappy with inconsistencies in recent decisions handed down by the race stewards.

He added that he believes Haas is being treated more harshly than other teams.

"It seems Haas is a lot of times on the receiving end of the inconsistencies," Steiner said this week. "It's always, when we do something, is it a race accident or not, you get a penalty.

"That's what we struggle a bit with. We just want it to be clarified."

The matter was brought to a head when Haas driver Kevin Magnussen raised the matter in the drivers' briefing before the Italian Grand Prix.

Magnussen was penalised in Hungary for clashing with Renault's Nico Hulkenberg. However, a similar clash between McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Hulkenberg's team mate Jolyon Palmer in Spa went unpunished.

In the latest race in Monza, Magnussen found himself pushed off track heading into Roggia by Red Bull's Max Verstappen. However the race stewards decided no further investigation was warranted into the incident.

“This was on the braking," explained Magnussen. "He didn’t leave me enough room so I went on the grass and missed the corner. I had run-off there, but if not it would have been the end – I’d be in the gravel or in the wall.

“I was annoyed, but only because there was no penalty,” the Dane continued. “That was pushing someone off the track. It is racing, stuff happens. But at least the penalty should be the same for everyone."

After Magnussen raised the issue in the drivers briefing, Steiner subsequently joined Magnussen in speaking to the stewards directly.

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"We talked mainly about that but we expand into the inconsistencies in general," he reported. "They assure me we are not [being unfairly treated], but I'm pretty sure we are.

"There the inconsistencies start. We're not agreeing on that one so we cannot even agree on that one, if it is true or not.

"Will we ever get it clarified? I don't know. It's an inconsistency. I know it's not an easy job. I wouldn't like to do it, and therefore I wouldn't do it. If you do it, you need to be consistent in my opinion.

"We should put a system or people in place that can be consistent," he stressed. "I don't know what is the best but for sure they can find out a way they can do it."

Steiner added that he expected the matter to be raised at the next drivers meeting in Singapore.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.