Haas boss Steiner summoned by FIA over F1 stewards criticism

Steiner was outspoken ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in expressing his annoyance about why Nico Hulkenberg was handed a penalty for an opening-lap collision at the Monaco Grand Prix.

He thinks it was unfair for Hulkenberg to be sanctioned for what he felt was a non-incident, when other drivers had got away with much worse.

"Lap one: we get a penalty for what I think is not a collision," said Steiner. "There are other people running into each other during the race - they get the black and white flag. So, I think it's very inconsistent.

"Then we look at the accident in Miami between [Nyck] de Vries and [Lando] Norris, in lap one, that was no collision."

Steiner went on to claim that an ongoing lack of consistency in stewards' decisions had left him feeling the time had come for professionals to be brought in.

"Every professional sport has got professionals being referees and stuff like this," he said.

"F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world, and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers. And it's always a discussion because there's no consistency.

"I think we need to step it up. I think it's now time. I think we're discussing this for years and years and we always go back to this."

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Steiner's remarks have not gone down well at the FIA and, following a report sent by F1's media delegate, he has now been summoned to see the Spanish GP stewards ahead of qualifying.

A statement from the governing body said that there were allegations he broke three regulations of the FIA's International Sporting Code

The three rules say an offence will be deemed to have taken place for

12.2.1.c Any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any Competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.

12.2.1.f 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 motorsport and on the values defended by the FIA.

12.2.1.k Any Misconduct towards, but not limited to: • licence-holders, • officials, • officers or member of the staff of the FIA, • members of the staff of the Organiser or promoter, • members of the staff of the Competitors, • suppliers of products or services to (or contractors or subcontractors to) any of the parties listed above; • doping control officials or any other person involved in a doping control carried out in accordance with Appendix A.

It is not the first time that Steiner has been called up by the FIA for remarks he has made.

After the 2019 Russian Grand Prix, he was fined for a radio outburst when he blamed a "stupid idiotic steward" for handing a time penalty to Kevin Magnussen for ignoring track limits.

To ensure impartiality in the hearing in Spain, the FIA will temporarily replace one of this weekend's stewards, Felix Holter, because he was also on duty in Monaco.