Haas boss Guenther Steiner says a fifty/fifty stance by the stewards on a potential penalty decision should simply be dismissed
A five-second penalty handed to Sebastian Vettel in the Canadian Grand Prix sparked controversy among fans and the motorsport community, with Ferrari requesting a review of the stewards' disputed call which will be conducted on Friday at Paul Ricard.
Addressing the events from Montreal, Steiner suggests that when a contentious move is too close to call by the stewards it should simply be ignored, which in turn would also prevent potentially lengthy appeals or useless reviews.
"When you make decisions and you don’t know what to do because it’s a fifty-fifty, they should not give a penalty, because Mercedes could not come back and demand a penalty. That is not in the rules.
"If there is no penalty given you cannot go back and demand a penalty for somebody. To avoid this, a fifty-fifty, we shouldn’t put them in there.
"You start a process which you never finish - you will always find an excuse and it’s a never-ending saga."
Steiner made clear that in his view, the Vettel-Hamilton incident in Montreal was a precisely fifty/fifty case and one he also labeled as "proper racing".
"How I see it, it’s a fifty-fifty and it can go both ways," he added.
"And if it’s a fifty-fifty, I go without the penalty as I always say. Whether it’s against us or for us, we shouldn’t over-regulate it. If it’s a fifty-fifty, let it go.
"That should be the clear decision in my opinion. If it’s a 60-40, again it’s very close. But it was a fifty-fifty in my opinion and it was proper racing.
"If we want to kill racing, if you have to have a simulation before the race and decide the race, we need to stop this. We have no value in this anymore in this one.
"For me it was proper racing, it was pretty cool and in the end, he got the penalty and they need to deal with it, I have no input there thank god. It’s a bit of a contentious one."
To clarify things, Steiner suggests the fifty/fifty assessment should be inscribed in the sporting rules.
"Could we also have a clear rule that if it’s a fifty-fifty we don’t give a penalty? I don’t want to be cheeky here but that could be one of the rules," he said.
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