As the team’s driver crisis continues, Haas boss Gunther Steiner insists “something has to change” within his team after the latest episode in the shenanigans of the team’s drivers.
After Silverstone, where Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen collided for the third time in 2019, Steiner’s fury prompted rumours that Grosjean could be axed. Then, during the sensational wet German Grand Prix, they collided again.
“Something has to change,” a resigned Steiner told Formule 1 after the race at Hockenheim. “I don’t know what else to say.”
He said he didn’t want to comment too much immediately after the race because the replays of the incident had not been fully analysed but insisted, “They cannot keep bumping into each other every weekend. We have to see with the team what steps we are going to take because this can’t keep happening.”
After Sunday’s clash, Grosjean – reportedly the most endangered of the driver duo – said of the latest incident: “No comments. Let’s see what happens now.”
But on Danish television TV3 Magnussen clearly blamed his teammate for the coming-together: “We were not told that we cannot race each other, but we were told very clearly that we must not hit each other.”
“I think I drove very consistently and predictably, but still Romain turned into me. I didn’t do anything wrong — it was up to him to avoid that situation.
“I respect him as a driver and in all other areas, we work well together as teammates. But these episodes must be avoided. We only hit our wheels together so nothing happened, but it’s still just unnecessary,” added the Dane.
Big Question: What does Guenther have to do to resolve the situation with his wayward drivers?
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