Haas boss Guenther Steiner has reiterated his desire for Formula 1 to have permanent stewards after receiving a reprimand from the FIA over comments made. In Monaco, Nico Hulkenberg was given a penalty for an aggressive first-lap overtake, while Kevin Magnussen also made a similar move up the inside of Mirebeau in the race, but did not receive any sanction. Responding to that in Spain, Steiner commented that "F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world, and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people which invest millions into their careers," a comment which earned him a reprimand from the FIA, with use of the word 'laymen' highlighted as having potential to cause offence. This was enough to earn a reprimand from the stewards, although his use of 'laymen' was put down to a loss in translation - but Steiner doubled down on his opinion of something needing to change when asked in Montreal.
Steiner doubles down
"Exactly how would you solve the continuity [of stewarding], how would you solve that or who would you have there?" the Haas boss explained to media, including RacingNews365. "I'm not going to choose the stewards, I don't really care. For me, the system, the continuity [needs to be] always the same. I still [believe] the penalty we got in Monte Carlo was wrong. "It wasn't [at] a wrong turn, it was in a proper turn and there was collision, so how can you be penalised for something you didn't do? "How can you get a collision infringement when there was no collision? "I still think there was no continuity [over Magnussen's similar move not being penalised] and there is an opportunity to do better.
Respect for everyone
Steiner apologised for his comments in Barcelona, believing "laymen" had been lost in translation, adding how he tries to ensure the Haas team all respect marshals and stewards. "I respect the people out there, the marshals and stewards a lot, I respect every in general in life," he said. "I'm one of the few guys, who if I've got time, the marshals who stand around the garage, I take time to say thank you to them and speak with them, because I know what they're actually doing. "I had a long talk with one of the guys in Monte Carlo, he was from Monza and we had five minutes of chat about life in general and he explained to me that he loves to do this. "He drove from Milan to Monte Carlo to do this and just wants to be around racing cars, and said that our garage, our people are one of the best to stay with on a race weekend. "[The team] are always polite because I want our guys to treat everybody correctly. "For me, using the word [laymen], for me, it was not saying what it was turned, twisted into. "You know that my first language is not English, I could have got it wrong and then you just have to say: 'Ok, I got it wrong.' "If it offended people without knowing the background of how I meant it, I apologise, I have no problem with that, because you need to be grown up about it. "I still stand by the gist of it, we need to look at changing something [in F1]."
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