09/09/2018
NEWS STORY
While Romain Grosjean's drive to sixth in Italy put Haas joint-fourth in the team standings with Renault, it was the Frenchman's fourth in Austria that actually put the American outfit ahead of its French rivals.
The embarrassment of a newcomer, halfway through its third season, officially being 'best of the rest', and showing the mighty Renault how it should be done was soon put to bed however when a post-race protest was upheld and Grosjean was disqualified for an illegal floor.
As his team awaits news of its appeal against the Monza stewards ruling, Haas team boss Guenther Steiner claims the protest wasn't simply about the legality of the floor but rather the inability of rivals to accept his team's obvious progress.
"If they cannot beat you on the track, they try to beat you in court," he says ahead of next weekend's Singapore Grand Prix.
"That is what seems to be happening," he adds. "You have to work hard to be envied. We'd rather work hard for it and fight even more."
The Italian suggests that such is the intensity of the midfield fight, rivals will consider all options in a bid to gain the upper hand.
"Sometimes, you have to do that," he says. "You take any approach in racing. Is it the right thing to do? I'll let others determine that.
"This doesn't distract me," he insists. "Our people know where they need to put the effort in. We don't get distracted when we go racing. We try to always get good results in racing and leave the other stuff offline."