Despite early promise, the home Grand Prix for the Haas F1 Team at the Circuit of the Americas was not what team principal Guenther Steiner had hoped it would be, with neither Romain Grosjean nor Kevin Magnussen bringing home any points, although for completely different reasons.
Magnussen had driven a strong race and took the chequered flag in ninth but was subsequently disqualified after being found to have used more than the permitted amount of fuel, a ruling which Steiner feels is not in the best interests of the racing within Formula 1.
Although that fuel level rises next season, he does not feel it will have a major change on the racing, particularly with the introduction of the new aerodynamic rules for 2019.
“It wasn’t a good event for us,” said Steiner. “Kevin finished ninth but has been disqualified because we used too much fuel. In the end, that’s our responsibility to control the fuel amount, but I still disagree with Formula 1 having to run on these rules.
“I hope next year, with having 110 kilograms, this will change, but we change another rule and put a big front wing on, so maybe this will be the same.
“One day we’ll get to have a good show, but at the moment it isn’t.”
After starting eighth on the grid, Grosjean damaged his suspension in an incident with Charles Leclerc on the opening lap at the end of the back straight, with the clash also earning him a grid drop penalty for the Mexican Grand Prix this coming weekend.
“Grosjean’s collision with Leclerc on the opening lap – he ended up getting a penalty for the next race, so we’re penalized for that already,” said Steiner.
“We get a three-place grid penalty for him.”
