Haas team principal Guenther Steiner fumes at out-dated Formula 1 penalty system

Formula 1

Steiner fumes at out-dated Formula 1 penalty system

"Punishment doesn't fit the crime" after penalty calls in last two races

Ian Parkes & Sam Hall

Monday 3 August 2020 11:30

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes urgent revisions are required to what he feels is now an out-dated penalty system in Formula 1.

Steiner has been left perplexed by time penalties handed out at the last two races that have involved his drivers on both sides of the argument.

In Hungary, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were both penalised 10 seconds after the team made a strategy call to switch them from wet to dry tyres at the end of the formation lap, flouting the rule that drivers must drive their car alone and unaided.

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In the British Grand Prix, Magnussen was shunted out of the race by Alex Albon at the end of the first lap, yet the Red Bull driver was only given a five-second time penalty.

“I think the penalty system is not working well," said Steiner.

"In Hungary, we come in the pits before the race and penalise ourselves because we have to start in the pit lane and we get 10 seconds.

"Here [at Silverstone] we get taken out on the first lap, and obviously it was his [Albon’s] fault because he gets a penalty, but it’s five seconds and we are out of the race. “In Hungary, we didn’t damage anybody and we didn’t get an advantage really because we penalised ourselves by starting in the pit lane. We talked with the drivers, it’s very unclear in the regulations.

“It’s a TD from 2017, so I think we need to look into getting that a little more closed up. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime all the time."

During the race, Haas made a call not to pit the medium-shod Grosjean for new tyres during the second safety car period following Daniil Kvyat's crash, while the rest of the field changed to the hard compound.

Steiner feels it was another bold move from his team to try to spice up the show, as was the case in Hungary, but that should not be to their detriment.

“It seems always that I complain about it, but I think there are situations where we are just more exposed to these things," added Steiner.

"We took a brave decision to stay out. We were the only one, but that mixed it up again a little bit you know. I think we are not trying to make it boring.

"We take decisions which we can live with the consequences, but we don’t like to live with the consequences by getting penalties for it.”

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