Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has slammed the Sepang International Circuit for not being "up to standard" after a loose drain cover caused Romain Grosjean to crash out heavily, red-flagging second practice.
Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Räikkönen ran over the drain cover – which was situated within a kerb on the racing line – lifting it slightly. Grosjean then ran over it which caused his right-rear tyre to deflate, spinning him into the barriers.
Steiner said the situation was "unacceptable" and believes it could have been far worse than it was.
"In my opinion things like this in 2017 should not happen on a permanent circuit, they shouldn’t happen on any circuit," said Steiner. "This is in my opinion not acceptable, it is not up to the standard.
"Drain covers coming up at F1 circuits is just not acceptable in the year 2017. In the race this would have been a bit of a bigger disaster if a few cars go over and the covers come up.
"I haven’t spoken with anybody and the next thing that we need to make sure is how we can prove it doesn’t happen [again]. Let’s see what the authorities have to say to that and to explain that it doesn’t happen again."
Haas have been granted special dispensation by the race stewards to work on the Frenchman's car overnight, without breaking curfew rules, as the incident was considered to be out of Grosjean's control.
"We consider that the circumstances causing the crash of Car 8 were entirely and clearly beyond the control of the Driver and the Competitor (and any other driver or competitor) and consider them as ‘force majeure’."
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