F1 News
Is the FIA sometimes applying double standards? Steiner does not rule it out
- Toby McLuskie
Guenther Steiner is the team boss of the Haas F1 team. The US team is one of the smaller ones on the grid. In the Track Limits podcast, the team boss was asked the piquant question of whether the FIA treats big and small teams differently. Steiner certainly does not rule that out.
Steiner: 'Easier to punish smaller team'
The Haas team boss thinks it is mainly easier to punish a smaller team. "Difficult to say, I mean, if you take the human being in general, I think obviously if they do something to a big team like this, they know that they expose themselves a lot more than to a small team, so where are you thinking, not even consciously, but unconsciously to do this?," Steiner begins in the podcast.
Steiner already received punishment from FIA
After the Monaco Grand Prix, Steiner was critical of the stewards at the weekend in question. This did not please the FIA and the organisation reprimanded the Italian. "I made a few comments and got penalised for it, which I didn't mean to offend anybody, but I just said the truth.This is people which their profession is not being a steward," Steiner said.
"If Toto would have said that, would he have got the same penalty? Toto wouldn't say it, of course, not publicly. I had an opinion, I had to voice it," jokes the Haas team boss. In the end, Steiner replied the following when asked whether the FIA occasionally applies double standards: "I cannot say yes to it, because I have no proof, but I would say, knowing human beings, I would say the chance is possibly there."