Steiner pushes for 'professional stewards' after unjust Monaco call

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner questioned the officials' decision to penalize Nico Hulkenberg in last weekend's Monaco Grand Prix and called on F1 to consider relying on a panel of professional stewards in the future.

Hulkenberg was hit with a 5-second penalty for causing a collision on the opening lap of last Sunday's race when lunged down the inside of the Williams of Logan Sargeant at Mirabeau.

Unfortunately, the stewards were not satisfied with how Hulkenberg's penalty was served during his pitstop, so they duly sanctioned the Haas charger with a second 10-second penalty.

It all amounted to a lot of frustration in the US outfit's camp. On Thursday, ahead of this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona, Steiner was still reeling over the stewards' seemingly unjust call.

"I think it's [turn] six when they are in the line, and the Aston Martin is front. I looked at the pictures and Nico comes from the inside and dives into the corner, but I can't see a collision," Steiner explained.

"I'm told that a collision is touching, but I'm still trying to find out. I'm still trying to get it explained because I think it was completely wrong."

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While no physical contact between Hulkenberg and Sargeant was visible on the pair's onboard footage, the Haas driver was informed over the radio that he had picked up a puncture, which suggests that a touch, however light it may have been, had perhaps occurred between the two cars.

However, the German's pit stop at the end of the opening lap was a planned event according to his team.

"This has consequences," added a discontent Steiner. "Lap one, we get a penalty for what I think is not a collision, then there is other people running into each other during the race and they get a black and white flag. So I think it's very inconsistent.

"Then we look at the accident in Miami between de Vries and Norris in lap one, that was no collision? If a collision is because you attack somebody, and he reacts to it, why would you get a penalty for that?

"I still don't understand it. And I was told in the video that you can see a collision, I looked at numerous pictures and I cannot see a collision.

"If somebody wants to tell me there is a collision, how can you be sure? And if you don't know if it is one or not, what is it then? Innocent until proven guilty? Not 'guilty until proven innocent' in my opinion."

In order to improve the consistency of the stewards' calls, Steiner tabled the idea of F1 relying, like in other sports, on a panel of dedicated professional individuals that officiate at every race rather than on its current system of rotating stewards.

"We need a different system for F1 stewards in my opinion, because every other professional sport has got professionals being referees and stuff like this," he said.

"F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers. It's always a discussion because there's no consistency.

"In American racing - NASCAR and IndyCar - how many times do you hear problems with the stewards or race directors decisions? Very rarely.

"But they're doing it completely differently because there is full-time people working there."

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