Haas boss Steiner summoned for insulting F1 stewards

Steiner and Haas team manager Peter Crolla are required to report to the stewards at 2.30pm local time (1.30pm UK) for an alleged breach of the sporting code during a media session on Thursday in Barcelona. 

The Italian said he wanted F1 to have a professional group of FIA stewards for every race after describing Nico Hulkenberg’s penalty at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix as “completely wrong”. 

Hulkenberg earned a five-second penalty for an aggressive lunge on Williams driver Logan Sargeant. 

Speaking ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, Steiner aired his frustrations at stewarding decisions and suggested a system overhaul. 

“I think we have to just go back to [the question]: do we need a different system for stewards?” Steiner said. 

“Every professional sport has got 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 who invest millions in their careers. And it's always a discussion because there's no consistency.

“I think we need to step it up. I think it's now time. I think we're discussing this for years and years and we always go back to this.”

Steiner added: “Every other sport has professionals for this: American racing, NASCAR, IndyCar. How many times you hear problems with the stewards or with race director’s decisions? Very rarely, very rarely. But they're doing it completely differently.

“There are full time people working there. I'm always saying: innocent until proven guilty. And not that I have to be prove that I was innocent, because it doesn't work for me. That is not how I conduct life.”

The FIA said a decision will not come before Sunday morning.