The collision between the two Haas drivers at the start of the British Grand Prix angered team boss Guenther Steiner.
Both the drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean performed well in the qualy and started from seventh and eighth, respectively. The start position gave them a good chance to topple Renault from the fourth place in the constructors’ standings.
But once the race started, things changed rapidly. By Turn 3 of the first lap, the Haas cars were running at 10th and 13th while the Renaults progressed to the top 10.
Speaking of the incident, Steiner said: “I would say I am not happy. They can happen, but it shouldn’t happen. We need to be better than that. That’s the conclusion out of this. We need to stop losing points. We are in the points now but [when] we lose them, we do it ourselves.
“While last year we needed to get into the points, now we need to stop falling out of the points, so that’s what we need to get better at.”
Grosjean tried to pass Magnussen from the inside of Turn 3 and he collided with this teammate. The contact affected the Dane’s floor and he could not finish higher than ninth. The Frenchman crashed hard later and thus only one car finished the race.
“The first lap incident, you have no control over anything,” he said. “It’s down to the drivers, and sometimes stuff happens which shouldn’t happen. I am sure Romain didn’t do it on purpose – why would he drive into his teammate? But it happens, so the drivers need to get better at avoiding these situations as at that point the team can’t do anything. I am not a race car driver.”
But after several first lap incidents, Steiner is now looking for a way to ensure it does not repeat in the future, hinting at possible team orders.
“I think there is a point where you have to draw a line,” he said. “We need to see how we can come to an agreement that we are not losing more points. We need to be conscious of what we are doing; the drivers need to be. We are conscious.”
