F1 News

Guenther Steiner of Haas on Fia and the stewards

Steiner lays in on stewards: 'Laymen decide on multi-million investment'

1 June 2023 at 16:57
Last update 3 June 2023 at 12:18
  • Toby McLuskie

Guenther Steiner is a man who makes no bones about his heart. This character trait - magnified by the Netflix series Drive to Survive - has made the Italian a cult figure. The Haas team boss reaffirmed in Barcelona, in the run-up to the Spanish Grand Prix, that he is very outspoken, harshly judging the FIA stewards.

In Monaco last weekend, his driver Nico Hulkenberg received a time penalty for a collision with Lance Stroll. Asking why Steiner thinks the German got a penalty acts as a red rag for the Haas boss. The American-based Steiner starts a long argument to GPblog and others, explaining that he does not understand the decision at all.


Steiner always notices discussion


In the end, Steiner lays in on the stewards on duty at the Monaco Grand Prix. Steiner says: "It's like, F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world, and we still have laymens, deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers. And it's always a discussion, because there is no consistency. And again, I don't want to blame any particular person on this, but if you are not there all the time, and this is just like a job every...It's not even a job, because in a job you can get sacked because you get paid.  And if you do a bad job, you get sacked."

He continued about the stewards' situation at the FIA: "You cannot get sacked because you don't get paid. It's like, I think we need to step it up. I think that's now time. I think we're discussing this since years and years, and we always go back to this. And every other sport has professional referees. American racing, NASCAR, IndyCar, how many times you hear  problems with the stewards or with the race directors' decision? Very rarely. Very rarely.  But they are doing it completely different. There is full-time people working there, you know? And I'm always saying, innocent until proven guilty. And not that I have to prove that I was innocent, because that doesn't work for me. That is not how I conduct life, you know?"