Haas boss Guenther Steiner has brushed off Antonio Giovinazzi's crash in first practice for the United States Grand Prix, but admitted he was not impressed with the Italian. Under a deal with Ferrari, Haas opted to run Giovinazzi in two FP1 sessions - at the Italian and US Grands Prix - although it does not count towards the young driver requirement as he has more than two Grand Prix starts. Just three laps into his session in Kevin Magnussen's car, the former Alfa Romeo driver crashed through the high-speed sweepers in Sector 1. Although he was able to get going again, he burnt out the clutch trying to free himself from the advertising hoarding, meaning his session was over early. Speaking after the opening practice session, Steiner was relieved that no serious damage was done to the car, but he was left unimpressed by the incident.
Steiner irked by Giovinazzi's 'not fantastic' FP1 outing
"I feel okay because the car will be ready to go out in FP2," he explained to Sky Sports F1. "Because getting out [from the wall], he must have got hooked up somewhere, and he burnt the clutch out. "It overheated and we cannot take the risk of not changing it because then you are afraid you cannot do FP2 - and we didn't have an FP1 with that car. "We'll get the car fixed and get it going - it's the front wing and sidepods. Obviously on your third lap to put it in the wall is not fantastic I would say at least." Steiner also confirmed that Giovinazzi would not be driving the car again in any of the remaining three race weekends - with Haas set to use Pietro Fittipaldi in Mexico and Abu Dhabi to fulfil its young driver requirement. Giovinazzi was classified 20th in the session, with Mick Schumacher 15th.
1583536476318359552
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩 We have a brief stoppage, as Antonio Giovinazzi spins into the wall at Turn 6 He gets the car out of the barrier and is en route back to the pits #USGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/btDPiXXmr3 — Formula 1 (@F1) October 21, 2022
Most read
