Guenther Steiner Slams Kevin Magnussen for Criticism of the Team

Barely a couple of weeks after he was summoned for criticising the FIA stewards, Haas F1 boss Gunther Steiner gave Kevin Magnussen a ticking off. As it turned out, the Dane was guilty of criticising the team at Suzuka, something that Steiner did not appreciate.

According to the Danish newspaper BT, Magnussen was unhappy with his race strategy. In addition to that, he disliked the manner in which the pitstop was carried out.

Steiner maintained that the 27-year-old should not have spoken so prematurely with the media.

“For me, this is about the team, while for Kevin it’s about himself and his career,” he said.

“I understand if he is angry, but usually we give each other time to get all the facts on the table and then we decide what went wrong,”.

“If he’s annoyed, he has to be annoyed with me, because no one did anything wrong on purpose. We don’t get annoyed when he puts the car in the wall in qualifying.”

The last comment was clearly a cheeky dig at Magnussen’s qualifying crash at Suzuka. It was a horrible day in the office for Haas as the other car, of Romain Grosjean could only manage 15th. Meanwhile, Kevin Magnussen finished 17th from 19th on the grid.

Now, the Dane has said that for the 2021 season, he would like to move to a ‘bigger team’. He said, “I feel that I am in the queue of drivers who deserve a seat in a top team. But what you feel is not so important. The only thing I can really do is deliver, and then trust that the people around me can open some doors. I’m only 27 so I think I am at the right age and experience.”

Out of 98 starts, Kevin Magnussen has only one podium to his name, which was on his F1 debut with McLaren.

“I would like to sit in the best possible seat for 2021,” he said. “I’m open and relaxed about it. It’s not something I’m thinking about right now, but I do need to think about it eventually.”