Guenther Steiner reflected on a disappointing Monaco Grand Prix for his Haas F1 Team, with both Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher ending their days in retirement.
Magnussen was battling for a potential points finish at the Circuit de Monaco before a water leak within his Energy Recovery System (ERS) ended that chance, with the Dane running behind Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas, who ended up finishing ninth, when the issue occurred.
Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, felt Magnussen could have passed Bottas during the pit stop cycle, but ultimately something out of their control finished their day.
“It was a disappointing day today,” said Steiner. “Kevin’s car was really fast, we were just waiting for our opportunity to pass Bottas at the pit stop, either under or over cutting to get by him and chase the field.
“He could easily follow him. He then had an issue with a water leak on his ERS system.”
The retirement of Schumacher, however, was not what Steiner wanted to see, with the German having another big crash this year on the back of his high-speed one in Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Schumacher made a small mistake in the Swimming Pool complex, hitting the inside wall before taking an even bigger hit on the outside, with the gearbox and rear wing assembly detaching itself from his car.
Steiner says the team will need to see how they can move forward after Schumacher’s latest incident, but he knows it was unsatisfactory to happen again.
“With Mick we obviously saw what happened,” he said. “It’s not very satisfactory having a big crash again.
“We need to see how we move forward from here.”
