Steiner frustrated with the race stewards in Monaco: 'Inconsistency again'
General
- Sergio Castellano
The Haas F1 team knew after qualifying in Monaco that scoring points was going to be difficult, if not impossible. Yet, for a brief moment, hope glimmered after the first lap for the American racetrack. Nico Hülkenberg made up a lot of positions at the start, but then the stewards threw a spanner in the works. The German was given a time penalty and Guenther Steiner has little sympathy for it.
Hulkenberg was off to a tremendous start at the extinguishing lights, but a slightly too enthusiastic overtaking towards Logan Sargeant (and a slight touch) meant a five-second time penalty. Steiner expressed his incomprehension after the race: "We got a penalty - we don't know what for on lap 1 - again, inconsistency from the FIA there, but it seems to be what now is normal."
Gamble with Magnussen
For Haas F1, there were ultimately no points in Monaco either. Hulkenberg finished 17th, with Kevin Magnussen dropping out after swimming on his hard tyres on a pretty wet track. From the television, it seemed an incomprehensible choice by the team to keep the Dane out for so long, but there was a thought behind it.
Steiner in his employer's press release: "There's no point in finishing twelfth, thirteenth or fourteenth so we decided to take a gamble at the end staying out and then pitting for full wets as you never know what can happen, but it didn't work out."