Steiner blasts McLaren for not contesting Piastri’s Brazil penalty

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has slammed McLaren for not standing up for Oscar Piastri after the Australian was hit with a controversial 10-second penalty at last weekend’s São Paulo Grand Prix – a sanction that many in the paddock felt was undeserved.

Piastri’s race unravelled at Turn 1, when contact with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes on the race’s restart sent Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into retirement. Despite the chaos of the three-car squeeze, stewards placed the blame squarely on Piastri, denting his championship hopes as he crossed the line in fifth.

Even Leclerc – the main casualty of the clash – stopped short of blaming the McLaren driver outright. And that, Steiner argues, should have been all the reason for McLaren to fight back.

'Why not fight for your driver'

Speaking on the most recent Red Flags podcast, Steiner didn’t hold back as he tore into McLaren’s decision not to contest the stewards’ sanction.

“Why you don't go there and at least say something to the stewards?” Steiner said.

“Even Charles Leclerc said 'I mean, it wasn't Oscar's fault.' If the other driver, who was taken out, says, 'Hey, nothing to do with him. Maybe I was a little bit too optimistic.' He didn't say that because he wouldn't admit to that one. But you know, three wide.

“At some stage with all these rules and interpretation, and 10 seconds instead of five and all that stuff, where does racing end? We just line up and we get away. Everybody gets away like they started. Make sure that you don't even look at anybody because you get a penalty. But the fans don't like that.”

Steiner, who built a reputation for his fiery defence of drivers during his time at Haas, made it clear he would have gone straight to the stewards’ room — even if the appeal was unlikely to succeed.

‘You always have to try’

The Italian insisted that challenging a penalty isn’t just about overturning a decision – it’s about showing the team and the fans that everyone is fighting together.

“I would have gone there and I would have flipped out,” Steiner admitted. “It's psychological as well.

“Obviously, I overdid it sometimes, which doesn't help. But then stating the facts, it shows that you know what you're doing. You show this and this is wrong. You give your point of view.

“Will you win it? You don't know. But you always have to try. That's my opinion.

“And as you say, not only the drivers, the whole team, the people at home who have to come in on Monday to work again, they know that everybody's trying their best. It's not like we let it go.”

Read also:

• Piastri hits back at Sao Paulo stewards: ‘I can’t just disappear’

Piastri’s penalty, coupled with Norris’ dominant win – his second in as many races – has left the Aussie with a big task to close the now 24-point to his teammate in the Drivers’ standings.

For Steiner, though, the real story wasn’t the result sheet – it was McLaren’s silence in the face of what he viewed as an avoidable injustice.

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