“We wouldn’t have gotten away with the fine Mercedes got”: Haas boss Guenther Steiner questions FIA’s ‘lenient decision making’ towards Lewis Hamilton

Gunther Steiner accuses FIA of favoring the big teams after Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton avoids grid penalty for impending Nikita Mazepin. 

Lewis Hamilton was summoned by the stewards for ‘failing to respect double yellow flags’ and ‘impending Nikita Mazepin after FP3 on Saturday. The latter incident was a potentially nasty one, which was narrowly avoided thanks to the Haas driver’s quick reactions.

Hamilton was on his cool-down lap and was going slow around turn 8. Mazepin, who was on his flying lap, did not see the Mercedes car until the last moment. The Russian driver had to abort his lap and cut the corner to avoid a big collision.

Lewis was reprimanded for this and Mercedes was fined €25,000. However, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was not satisfied with this verdict.

“I don’t think we would have gotten away with the fine Mercedes got.” said Steiner.

Also read: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen questions why a track as unsafe as the Jeddah street circuit in Saudi was allowed to be part of the F1 calendar

“Mazepin was criticized for the same thing, but when Mercedes do it, it’s fine”

Mazepin has received a lot of criticism for his performances this season. Towards the start of the season, the 22 year old received grid penalties for several instances of ‘impending other drivers’.

Gunther Steiner mentioned the Spanish Grand Prix where his driver was given a 3-place grid drop for a similar incident.

“We would have had five places on the grid, which would not have made a difference anyway. I don’t know, I say that could have been.” said Steiner.

“As I say, Mazepin was criticized a lot for this and when everyone else does it, it is all good.”

“In the position we are in at the moment, our voice is not really there. We need to get up there and we will get vocal about it and not just take it on the chin.”

Hamilton will start the race on pole position on Sunday. The Briton is 8 points behind current Championship leader Max Verstappen with just 2 races left.

Also read: Watch Lewis Hamilton grabbing pole after massive Max Verstappen misfortune