F1
Lewis Larkam 6y

Guenther Steiner claims F1 stewarding inconsistencies are getting worse

Formula 1

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has once again called into question the consistency of Formula One's stewards, after Romain Grosjean was penalised in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Grosjean and Esteban Ocon collided on the run to Turn 7 on the opening lap in Brazil, with both drivers spinning off into the run-off area. Force India's Ocon was forced into his first non-finish in F1, while Haas driver Grosjean was deemed to be at fault for causing the incident. The Frenchman received a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his licence.

Steiner was left stunned by the decision and compared it with the verdict to hand Williams' Lance Stroll one penalty point and a three-place grid penalty for blocking Grosjean during qualifying at the U.S. Grand Prix.

"I share my surprise more in the verdict," Steiner said. "It doesn't influence our result here, we were done by then and we took it as a test session, nothing else. He got two penalty points for a race accident in my opinion, and then Stroll got one penalty point when the speed difference was 140km/h and that was pretty dangerous. It doesn't get any better by the way, the more I mention it I think it gets worse."

Grosjean finished 15th in the race and later apologised for causing the accident, but said he was "struggling to understand" why he was given a penalty.

In a video message posted on social media after the race, Grosjean said: "Not the race we were hoping for. I'm sorry for the contact with Esteban, I was touched strongly from behind, I believe I had a puncture from there so I lost the car and he was on the outside.

"It's to me a racing incident, in my opinion, I'm really struggling to understand the penalty, which was super harsh. It is what it is and we have to move on."

Grosjean also received a time penalty for cutting a corner while battling with McLaren's Fernando Alonso in the Mexican Grand Prix, a decision which prompted Steiner to speak to F1 race director Charlie Whiting, while he also called on F1 to adopt a permanent stewarding panel in order to iron out inconsistencies.

When asked whether he felt any progress had been made since Mexico, Steiner replied: "Not as far as I know. It hasn't shown any progress. So it's very difficult."

Kevin Magnussen escaped being sanctioned for his role in the Turn 1 collision involving Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Stoffel Vandoorne, with the stewards concluding that "no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame" for the clash at the start of the race.

Speaking about the incident, Steiner said: "No further action about Kevin. OK, so I can't b---- about that one! But I just said that's what I think it should be and it's the right verdict. It was a racing incident. Turn 1, what should he do? Let everyone by again?

"It's very similar to Sebastian Vettel -- Max Verstappen incident in Singapore when Vettel didn't see [Kimi] Raikkonen was on the left [and they collided but no driver received a penalty]. It happened. For me it's as simple as this."

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