(Reuters) – Formula One stewards reprimanded Haas team principal Guenther Steiner on Sunday after he criticised a penalty given to Nico Hulkenberg in Monaco and called for professional officials.
The stewards said after a Spanish Grand Prix hearing that they would take no further action on two alleged breaches of the governing FIA’s International Sporting Code (ISC).
They issued a reprimand for a third breach regarding misconduct towards officials and FIA staff and found Steiner caused offence by referring to the Monaco stewards as ‘laymen’ while highlighting ‘professional’ personnel elsewhere.
Steiner had told reporters in Spain on Thursday that “F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people that invest millions in their careers”.
“Every other sport has professional referees… NASCAR, IndyCar, how many times do you hear problems with the stewards or with the race director’s decisions? Very rarely.”
The Italian, known for his direct style and colourful language, said in a separate statement he had expressed disappointment and disagreement with the penalty at the hearing but had not intended to cause offence.
“The stewards informed me that they had no issue with people disagreeing with decisions but were more concerned about the interpretation that had been placed on some of my comments,” he said.
“I told the stewards that I apologised if my statements were misunderstood or caused hurt to anyone as that was not my intention. I repeat that apology here.”
The stewards accepted Steiner’s apology and did not dispute his comment that “if he had meant to insult or offend anyone he would have used much different words”.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)
