Mercedes boss Toto Wolff advocates support for the FIA after Haas colleague Guenther Steiner's reprimand
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff feels the FIA needs support from the teams in whatever capacity possible after Guenther Steiner was reprimanded in Barcelona. Steiner had raised question marks over the unprofessional manner in which stewarding was conducted, in his view.
The Haas team principal was at odds with the penalty given to driver Nico Hulkenberg in Monaco. The German was given a penalty for 'causing a collision' on the first lap of the race.
Ironically, though, there's no video evidence of Hulkenberg colliding with or making contact with Mercedes customer team Williams' driver Logan Sargeant. Steiner's comments where he asked for a more professional approach ended up with him getting reprimanded for them.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had a somewhat different approach to the entire situation, as he felt that the system was satisfactory but the personnel needed questioning.
As quoted by Racingnews365, he said:
"I never had my doubts in the system, I had my doubts in individuals. As a steward and a race director, you are under immense pressure to do the right things and probably every decision is going to have someone that likes it and the other one doesn't. So I think they're just trying the best they can, and we need to support the FIA where we can."
Mercedes boss' comments in contrast with what Steiner said
Compared to what the Mercedes boss said, Steiner was a bit more blunt in his view, as he felt a level of professionalism was needed when it comes to stewarding in F1. Questioning the consistency of the decisions that have been made in the past, Steiner felt that this needed looking into.
He said:
"We need a different system for stewards. Every professional sport has professionals being referees and stuff like this. 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. And it’s always a discussion because there’s no consistency.”
Steiner's angst at the decision made against his driver is understandable. especially since the penalty in Monaco completely destroys a driver's race. Having said that, the choice of words could surely have been better in the circumstances.
Wolff's comments in this scenario are arguably the more sensible ones because, at the end of the day, whatever support the teams can provide to the FIA will ultimately help make the sport better.