Guenther Steiner: “The front wing was clearly safe to continue”

After a point-less display for the Haas F1 Team at the Hungarian Grand Prix, team principal Guenther Steiner has spoken out on what he feels was a harsh decision by the FIA to award Kevin Magnussen with the black and orange flag in the early stages of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Contact at turn 1 with Daniel Ricciardo saw Magnussen’s front wing sustain damage, with the FIA opting to show the Haas driver the black and orange flag, forcing Magnussen into an early pitstop. With Magnussen pitting for the hard compound tyre, the Danish driver was left with it all to do and was only able to bring home his Haas VF-22 in sixteenth place.

Steiner spoke post-race on how the FIA’s decision had hindered any possible progress for Magnussen at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“It was a difficult race today for us. Kevin with apparent front wing damage which actually in our opinion was a mistake by the FIA to call us out on. The front wing was clearly safe to continue so we lost half a lap and that means our race was over and then obviously to get the tires to work was difficult once we ended up in all the blue flags.”

On the other side of the Haas F1 Team garage, Mick Schumacher also endured a tough day out on track at the Hungaroring. Despite a strong start from the young German driver, a tough spell on the hard tyres saw Schumacher cross the finish line in fourteenth position.

On Schumacher’s race Steiner spoke on how the decision to move to the hard tyres was detrimental for his race.

“It was the same for Mick, the C2 just wasn’t working, we didn’t get it to work, and we ended up where we ended up.”

With the Haas F1 Team debuting their long-awaited first upgrade package of the season on Kevin Magnussen’s car this weekend, Steiner remains confident that his team will be able to bounce back after the summer break at the Belgian Grand Prix.

“Unfortunately, that was the race before the summer break but I’m sure we’ll regroup and come back in our old form not having issues like this.”

Credit: Haas F1 Team