Guenther Steiner expressed his anger with the Stewards after they brandished a black-and-orange flag to Kevin Magnussen for a damaged front wing, with the Team Principal stating there was little need for it.
It marked the third time this season that Magnussen has received the infamous ‘meatball’ flag, as it was previously shown to the Danish driver in Canada and Hungary.
The flag meant that the Haas was forced to pit to change his wing, sending him to the back of the order – pairing him with Schumacher’s unfortunate tussle with Russell, Haas finished the race out of the points.
“A disappointing race as we could’ve scored points here realistically, without dreaming of them,” Steiner said after the race. “The incident on Lap 1 with Kevin, we lost all positions and again we received a black and orange flag, now for the third time, when there is no need for it.
“We have made it very clear to the FIA on the past two occasions and it’s just like you have your back against the wall. Mick was very close to points, almost in it, and then he had contact with Russell and that put him out of the race for points.”
Magnussen had managed to jump Max Verstappen at the start of the race as the Dutchman bogged down the order following a slow start.
However, a brief battle with the championship leader saw his front wing take some damage with one of the end plates appearing to hang off the side of the car.
“I had very slight damage but it was nothing,” Magnussen said on the incident. “I got the black and orange flag which to me seems unnecessary as the part wasn’t about to fall off, there were no safety concerns as it has tethers to the car – it wasn’t even moving.
“We finished P12 when we had an extra pit stop that I didn’t need, so it’s frustrating. It was a positive Saturday yesterday, and we’ve seen the car has some pace, so that’s at least encouraging. Hopefully, we can keep it up moving forward.”
