The fallout from Oscar Piastri’s penalty at the São Paulo Grand Prix has turned into one of those oddly compelling Formula 1 soap operas, complete with emotion, questionable decisions and at least one cameo from Guenther Steiner. After tangling with Mercedes newcomer Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the first turn, Piastri was handed a 10-second penalty and two penalty points, the racing equivalent of being given extra homework for something half the class did.
Reactions were mixed, with many fans calling the penalty “harsh”, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, whose race lasted approximately four blinks of an eye, jumping to say that Piastri wasn’t the sole culprit. ‘I think Kimi is just as much to blame as Oscar,’ Leclerc pointed out, in a tone usually reserved for siblings forced to share responsibility for breaking a vase.
And it was this tiny, rare act of shared blame that hooked Guenther Steiner.
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Steiner has questions
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner expressed his disbelief at McLaren’s rather serene reaction. ‘Why don’t they go and say something to the stewards?’ he asked, sounding like a man who has never passed up the chance to go and say something to someone.
He invoked Leclerc’s comments with the passion of a lawyer brandishing surprise evidence.
“Even Charles said it wasn’t Oscar’s fault!” Steiner exclaimed, before indulging in a hypothetical Leclerc confession: “Maybe I was a bit too optimistic.”
Of course, as Steiner pointed out, Leclerc would never admit that out loud because no Formula 1 driver has ever taken responsibility for an accident unless their car was literally on fire.
Nevertheless, Steiner’s point stands: three cars entered Turn 1 side by side, the laws of physics took their course, and yet somehow Piastri ended up shouldering all the blame.
Ferrari engineers now pin the blame on…
Where Does Racing End and Queuing Begin?
Steiner’s real frustration, though, lies in the broader trend he sees in modern race officiating. “At some point, with all these rules and interpretations… where does racing end?” he grumbled. “Then we just line up and drive off.’ It’s a bleak vision: Formula 1 reimagined as the world’s fastest, most expensive parade lap.”
According to Steiner, drivers now risk penalties not just for collisions, but for looking at another car the wrong way. And fans — those curious creatures who tune in to watch people drive at 200 mph with little regard for their own safety, apparently do not enjoy this era of bureaucratic motorsport.
The Protest That Never Was
For Steiner, McLaren’s lack of protest wasn’t just a missed strategic opportunity, but also a missed psychological one. He insists that challenging the stewards sends an internal message: “We’re fighting for you, we have your back, and we enjoy paperwork.”
He admits that he personally may have “gone too far” from time to time, an understatement on a par with saying the sun is “noticeably warm”, but argues that presenting the facts, stating your case and banging a metaphorical (or literal) table matters. “Do you win with that? Who knows?”
But, Steiner insists, you must at least try…
It’s not just about the driver. It’s also for the engineers, mechanics and factory staff who stumble back to work on Monday. He claims that a strong protest boosts morale, like a motivational speech but with more legal jargon.
So why don’t people go there?
Ultimately, Steiner is simply bewildered: if you believe your driver was judged unfairly, why not march into the room where decisions are made and make a scene, whether politely or otherwise? In other words, why don’t teams ‘go there’? Why don’t they show up, speak up and stir the pot?
After all, this is Formula 1. Stirring the pot is practically a performance metric.
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Lewis Hamilton finds himself in good company having been lambasted by Ferrari group chairman, John Elkann. When Fernando Alonso was driving for the team in 2013, he was asked what he would like after as a birthday present after finishing a lowly fifth in Singapore. The Spaniard quipped: “someone else’s car.”
This sparked a furore in Maranello with the PR department releasing an unusual statement about a conversation between the then chairman, Luca de Montezemolo and his Spanish driver. “All the great champions who have driven for Ferrari have always been asked to put the interests of the team above their own,” it opened.
According to the statement, Di Montezemolo also insisted that “this is the moment to stay calm, avoid polemics and show humility and determination in making one’s own contribution, standing alongside the team and its people both at the track and outside it”.
Alonso’s ear “tweaked”
It also remarkably revealed that Di Montezemolo had said in the team meeting on Monday that, “there is a need to close ranks, without giving in to rash outbursts that, while understandable in the immediate aftermath of a bad result, are no use to anyone”.
It was also reported that there Ferrari boss had called Alonso to wish him a happy birthday, but during that call Montezemolo had “tweaked his ear” for his latest comments. A year later and after another Ferrari failure as the 2014 new V6 turbo hybrid era was ushered in, Fernando left the Scuderia reportedly saying he believed they could not win another championship. He blamed the dysfunctional nature of how the team operated for this damning conclusion.
Lewis Hamilton along with team mate Charles Leclerc this week also received an “ear tweak” from the current Ferrari chairman. John Elkann praised the engineers and the mechanics of the Scuderia for doing an excellent job.However, he lambasted his drivers stating, “We have drivers who need to focus on driving, talk less, and we have important races ahead of us, and it is not impossible to finish second.”
In his post race interview in Brazil, Lewis described his first season at Ferrari as a “nightmare” yet it was not this which drew the ire of the Ferrari boss. Prior to the summer break, Hamilton revealed he had “called” a number of meetings with department heads in Maranello and that, “I’ve sent documents. I’ve done [that] through the year.” …READ MORE
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Steiner’s right: McLaren SHOULD have protested that Piastri penalty. It was grossly unreasonable to pin the whole incident on him
ALL the teams should be protesting the 10 second penalty rule too – it simply KILLS racing