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Steiner hits out at Renault: "Their problem is us being better than them"

14:54, 31 Mar 2019

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has dismissed Renault's complaints about B-teams in F1 like Haas, as Steiner thinks the French team uses it as an excuse for their lack of performance this season.

Renault and its team principal Cyril Abiteboul have been critical of the B-team concept, as Haas ran away in the midfield battle in the season opener in Australia. Haas notoriously buy a lot of the components on their car from Ferrari, and it's seemingly working as they lead the way in midfield.

Steiner, however, thinks this is simply an excuse for Renault's own lack of performance.

"I think they should do a better job and then they wouldn't get the heat," Steiner told Motorsport. "It is in their own hands.

"In my opinion, the problem they created themselves by not performing enough and spending too much money.

"I think they need to up their own game and not try to lower our performance by hindering us. They are not getting closer to the big ones, that is the problem."

Steiner also countered Renault's argument about Haas never being able to win with their current business model

"Their problem is us being better than them and they use the 'we cannot win' as an excuse. Can they win? It doesn't look it.

"We have overcome bigger hurdles. I am not going to lose any sleep over it. And a good result is look where we are today and look where they [Renault] are today."

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen will start from the third row on the grid later today, as the Dane impressively qualified in P6. Romain Grosjean, who originally qualified eighth, will start further back because of a grid penalty.