Steiner comes to the rescue of criticized Grosjean: "Free world"

Haas team boss Günther Steiner has jumped into the breach for Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman was one of the six drivers who didn't kneel in the fight against racism, something that came in for criticism from Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

According to Steiner the choice is Grosjean and refusing has nothing to do with racism from the Frenchman. "It's up to everyone to decide what to do. I know Romain very well and I'm sure he's against racism", Steiner says in conversation with Autosport.

Free world

"It's a good thing to wonder how long we'll keep doing this. We've done it, but it doesn't mean we're racist if we don't do it again the next time. We as a team support Romain's decision. It's a free world. It's his own decision what he does in the future." Hamilton, in the fight for equality, called on his fellow racers to kneel against racism. Max Verstappen also decided not to participate.