F1 News

Steiner was concerned Magnussen and Grosjean relationship was beyond repair

Steiner was concerned Magnussen and Grosjean relationship was beyond repair

30-12-2019 16:06
2

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean had a tumultuous season at Haas. One of the features of their season was their drivers clashing and Guenther Steiner has admitted he thought their relationship was beyond repair.

Magnussen and Grosjean finished 16th and 18th in the Drivers' Championship respectively as Haas finished second bottom in the Constructors' equivalent. After starting the season as one of the strong contenders for best of the rest, given their 2018 exploits, last season was very frustrating for the team.

On several occasions, the drivers clashed and Guenther Steiner has admitted he thought the incident at Silverstone between Magnussen and Grosjean could have been the breaking point.

"Absolutely, yeah. After Silverstone I was to a point where I could not see this working anymore, because we were struggling with the car, then we were struggling with the drivers," Steiner told Motorsport.com.

"It was just a struggle, and I'm not really moaning because I am under pressure at all. It's also for the team to motivate the team.

"If I cannot control the drivers, how can that be good for the team? I put a lot of pressure under them to work, to do everything good and then they get together at Turn 5. At a certain stage I thought it is not manageable anymore."