Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Hockenheimring, 2019

Steiner prepared to use team orders after drivers collide again

2019 German Grand Prix

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the latest collision between his drivers is “not acceptable” and he is prepared to impose team orders on the pair.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen made contact at the Spitzkehre hairpin while fighting for position during the race. They survived the contact and finished the race, unlike in the previous round at Silverstone where a first-lap incident between the team mates led both to retire.

However Steiner is frustrated that his repeated warning to the pair have failed to prevent them colliding again. He said he is now prepared to “tell them what to do” in future races.

“I need to think about it but there is not many options,” said Steiner. “At some stage something needs to be done.”

That could include issuing team orders to prevent the pair racing. “I normally try to avoid it,” Steiner explained, “as you know I like racing, I think that’s what we should be doing.

“But if it works always against us I can’t keep it happening. Today we are lucky that nothing [happened], they both were there, but it could happen again.”

Steiner plans to speak to his drivers again before this weekend’s race at the Hungaroring. “I didn’t see it properly, I want to look at it properly and calm down about it and then I need to see what I am going to do.”

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2019 F1 season

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16 comments on “Steiner prepared to use team orders after drivers collide again”

  1. I like you, Steiner, but you “telling them what to do” is obviously not having the intended effect. Thankfully their clash yesterday was minor and they brought the cars home in the points, but the message isn’t really sinking in to the drivers.

    Maybe bench one of them for a race? Or bench each of them for successive races?

  2. @phylyp yeah probably benching could be a good thing. Maybe starting from FP while a test driver is racing, something like a yellow card.

    Yesterday’s contact was silly, but I put blame on Grosjean: he closed the turn when he knew Magnussen couldn’t turn that tight, nor break to avoid him.

    1. Mag had several carswidths on the inside. The inside is wetter with less grip so he didn’t want to be there, but Grosjean had to turn in eventually and he took a super wide line specifically because he had Magnussen on the inside. Short of turning beyond the white line, there wasn’t much Grosjean could do in this situation.

      1. @repete86
        Yeah, I’m with you on that one. Grosjean’s move was perfectly clean and extremely cautious, he left much more space than anyone else that day. The only reason why it got hairy was a borderline insane choice of braking point by Magnussen, which had him effectively reverse divebombing his team mate. Grosjean could’ve avoided the collision only by parking on the left-hand side of the corner entry, waiting for Magnussen to drift past him on an alternative interpretation of the track’s layout. Or by not attempting to race him at all. Despite having a pace advantage of 1.5 seconds per lap and trying to keep the Saubers from spoiling his result.
        In other words: He would’ve had to stop racing altogether, because there was no racing-compatible way for him to avoid the collision. Which is just a different way of saying Magnussen was 100% to blame for the incident. What on earth was he thinking?

  3. I’m really looking forward to the new NETFLIX-series :). Every race there is plenty of drama at Haas to choose from. I can’t read Steiner’s quotes without hearing his accent in my head.

  4. I feel like Steiner would’ve gotten rid of one of them a long time ago if he could. But both of them have financial backing and contracts.

    1. I belive they and Steiner get along real well outside of the media hype actually.

    2. Ha ha ha ha!! Contracts …

  5. Just get rid of Grosjean. That will help a lot already.

  6. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    29th July 2019, 12:16

    Didn’t Force India tell Ocon & Perez they were not allowed to race or overtake each other unless given permission at one stage? Maybe that’s what Haas need to do.

    To be honest I think they come together because of stubborness – both of them are drivers that tend not to give an inch, even to their teammates. That said if I had to point a finger I think Grosjean’s usually a little more to blame than Magnussen. Though given the inconsistency with that car I can see both of them overdriving it a little when the chance of a good result pops up – they just usually (and unfortunately) find themselves battling each other.

    1. Yes. Twice (that pairing was almost as bad at taking hints as this one).

  7. Two nutcases, with similar speed one behind slightly faster. Both ruthless.

    Only Vettel can crash so much and still have a seat.

    1. And LEC of course.

  8. How many times have they collided on this season already?

  9. At this point I hope Haas keep them. Not only was the German GP very enjoyable to watch, I was laughing so hard at their latest collision I almost chocked on my coffee (yes it spewed all over the place). These guys are hilarious and I loved the way the producer immediately showed Steiner on the pit wall when they collided. I love it.

  10. The Haas “Crash-Test Dummies” were on form again this weekend, giving us yet more giggles. I wonder if their algorithms need to be checked because it seems as if “don’t crash” means “please crash.”

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