Steiner hits back at rivals after Ferrari accusations

Haas team boss Gunther Steiner has responded after rival teams such as McLaren and Force India has accused the team of copying last year’s Ferrari.

Haas have a surprisingly competitive team this year and were on course for fourth and fifth place finishes in Melbourne until pit stop problems ended both Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean’s races.

Steiner said: “We have got the same (wheelbase) as Ferrari.

“We have to because we have the same suspension – why would we do it different?

“It’s logic. So it cannot be last year’s Ferrari because it has the same wheelbase as this year’s Ferrari.

“My point is, if they have got a problem with that, I show them the way to the FIA, they can file a protest.”

Haas were very competitive in both testing and in Australia, which has led Steiner to believe that the protests are down to the fact Haas seem quicker than their rivals.

He said: “If you have to justify your incompetence then attack is the best defence.

“If someone has double the money and is behind us, whoever owns the team should be asking, ‘what are we doing here?’

“It’s competition. Maybe next year we are last. When you speak, you need to have an argument you can back up, not just assumptions.”

F1 race director Charlie Whiting sees no problem with the Ferrari-Haas relationship, saying: “We know exactly what’s going on between Haas and Ferrari, which is completely legal.

“Last year we had one team expressing some concerns but we have not seen anything that concerns us at the moment.”