SILVERSTONE, U.K. — Guenther Steiner said his two drivers have helped dig Haas into an even bigger hold after colliding in the opening moments of the British Grand Prix.
Romain Grosjean bumped wheels with Kevin Magnussen at Turn 4, an incident which left both cars with a puncture. Both stopped for new tyres but were soon brought into the pits to retire.
Haas has been embroiled in a bizarre saga around its title sponsor, Rich Energy, this week, which has come at a time it is struggling to find form. While the team still has a quick car over one lap it is still searching for an explanation behind its severe lack of race pace.
With no top-ten finish since May’s Monaco Grand Prix, Steiner was in no mood to make excuses for his drivers.
The quote attributed to Steiner in the team’s post-race press release said: “It was a very disappointing race for us. I’m just stating the obvious here.
“The best that our drivers could bring to the battle was a shovel — to dig the hole we’re in even deeper. We need to go back, regroup, and see what we do in future.”
Steiner refused to lay the blame at one driver’s feet over the other. Grosjean and Magnussen have had on-track collisions before and after the most recent one at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix held ‘clear the air’ talks to ensure there were no lingering hard feelings. After their most recent clash he said they should know better.
“Both of them, it is not acceptable what happened,” Steiner said when asked who was to blame. “I was pretty clear with them after Barcelona, what not to do. In the end, we are in a difficult position at the moment, how to get the car work on track.
“Everyone works hard like hell. Then when we get a chance, our long runs look OK… We crash into each other on Turn 5. It’s not acceptable.”
Adding to the frustration was the fact Steiner said all the data gathered by the team in practice suggested Haas had found an answer to its recent woes.
“Yeah, it was an opportunity, from all the data we have got, it was an opportunity. We knew that because we worked hard for it on Friday. It’s a wasted opportunity. There’s your headline.”