03/06/2023
NEWS STORY
Haas team boss, Guenther Steiner has been summoned by the Barcelona stewards following comments made to the media about the stewarding in Monaco last week.
At 12:30 local time, the stewards in Barcelona announced that the Haas team principal and team manager were required to report to them at 14:30 (local time), in relation to a report received from the FIA Media Delegate.
It is alleged that Steiner breached of Articles 12.2.1.c, 12.2.1.f and 12.2.1.k of the FIA International Sporting Code during a media conference conducted on June 1.
For guidance, Article 12.2.1.c. relates to 'any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally', while Article 12.2.1.f. refers to 'any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA'.
Finally, Article 12.2.1.k relates to 'any misconduct towards, but not limited to: licence-holders, officials, officers or members of staff of the FIA; members of staff of the organiser or promoter; members of staff of the competitors, suppliers of products or services to (or contractors or subcontractors to) any of the parties listed above, and doping control officials or any other person involved in a doping control'.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Steiner was highly critical of the Monaco stewards in terms of the original penalty meted out to Nico Hulkenberg, and the subsequent decision to impose a further penalty.
The German was handed a 5s time penalty for "causing a collision" with Logan Sargeant, however his team insists that there was no collision. Adding to the team's frustration is that Hulkenberg was handed a further10s penalty because his team "failed to serve the full 5 seconds penalty before working on the car".
Criticising the penalties, Steiner hit out at the overall standard of stewarding, particularly a perceived lack of consistency, the Italian going on to call for the appointment of professional officials.
"We need a different system for F1 stewards in my opinion," he said, "because every other professional sport has got professionals being referees and stuff like this.
"F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world and we still have laymen's (sic) deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers. It's always a discussion because there's no consistency.
"In American racing, NASCAR and IndyCar, how many times do you hear problems with the stewards or race directors decisions? Very rarely. They're doing it completely differently because there is full-time people working there."
Whatever the outcome of today's hearing it is unlikely that his views will have changed.