Steiner doesn't understand stewards: 'Last week this was OK, now it's not?'

The British press and analysts were fairly unanimous: Max Verstappen deserved a hefty penalty for both incidents in the Mexico Grand Prix with Lando Norris. However, Guenther Steiner, the former Haas F1 team boss, disagrees with that, he shared in the Red Flags podcast.

After the United States Grand Prix, British analysts were convinced that not Norris, but Verstappen deserved a penalty. A week later, though, the Dutchman received 20 seconds worth of penalties in Mexico. "I think he got it back from Austin, with an interest rate on top," laughed Steiner in the podcast, before referring to a meeting of the drivers with the FIA, in which it was discussed that the rules needed to be shaken up.

But those changes would only happen around the Qatar Grand Prix, Steiner said: "In the meeting, yes, they agreed to change things. But things changed quicker than what was agreed. Something came up in between. Now, we are back to this inconsistency again. One steward sees it this way, and another steward sees it the other way. And here we are. What was okay last week, this week is clearly not okay."

'Verstappen did not deserve punishment for the first incident'

For the second incident between Verstappen and Norris in Mexico City, according to Steiner, Verstappen did deserve a penalty: "That one was getting very aggressive. But the first one was like last week. We need to decide what is right and what is wrong, and not that there will be a discussion every time. We are not talking about the race, we are already asking about a penalty again. Two weekends in a row, the biggest issue on the race weekend penalties. Let's make sure that everybody understands what is going to be penalised, and by how much, and then everyone goes racing and we enjoy that," he concluded.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy

Want more Formula 1? Then follow GPblog on our various social media channels!

X | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube