Guenther Steiner has revealed he has engaged in some conversations with FIA race director Charlie Whiting after feeling the Haas F1 Team were again on the wrong end of the decisions during last weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean was handed a five-second penalty for running off track and gaining an advantage whilst battling Fernando Alonso on Sunday, but the Spaniard went unpunished despite hitting the Frenchman whilst passing him into turn one.
Steiner, the Team Principal of the Haas team, said inconsistencies in stewarding decisions need to be addressed, and one rule should apply for all similar decisions.
“I’ve spoken to Charlie and we’ve had some constructive discussions,” said Steiner on Motorsport.com. “My biggest thing is the technicalities of what is wrong and what is right.
“That isn’t easy to find out, and it’s the consistency. You need to know what is happening and what is not happening with penalties, and that’s my biggest thing – every time it’s different.
“Romain gets five seconds for cutting the corner and then Fernando runs into him, hits his car, and destroys his race anyway and gets nothing. It’s like… explain it!”
Steiner believes introducing a permanent steward or stewarding team would be the best way to eliminate inconsistencies, and can be accountable for their decisions, something that seems to be lacking at this moment in time.
“For me the only solution is to have permanent people there, who know what happens every week,” said Steiner. “I have no problem if they are then supplemented by additional people or whoever, but there needs to be somebody consistent who knows what happened a year ago, two years ago, last week.
“You need to be accountable for that job, there’s too much at stake. This is a big sport. I’m not blaming the guys because it’s not their job, but you cannot have one day one decision and another day another one and say ‘yeah that’s alright’!
“And for sure it’s worse with the smaller teams on the grid because they care less about them.”
