Former Haas F1 boss calls out FIA over 'lenient' Carlos Sainz Hungarian GP penalty

Guenther Steiner believes Carlos Sainz deserved a harsher penalty for his collision with Oscar Piastri during the Hungarian Grand Prix

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has argued that Carlos Sainz should have received a harsher penalty for his collision with Oscar Piastri at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

During the race at the Hungaroring, Sainz made contact with Piastri's McLaren while being lapped. Piastri had pitted from the lead of the race, but Sainz failed to yield the position as the McLaren driver made his way around the backmarkers. The Spaniard was subsequently handed a five-second penalty by the stewards.

The leniency of the sanction was attributed to widespread technical issues during the grand prix. The FIA cited a faulty GPS tracking system and a glitch in the blue flag software as mitigating factors.

But, speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner dismissed the governing body's reasoning, insisting that the standard, harsher penalty should have been applied to set a precedent for backmarkers.

"Right or wrong, nothing would have changed anyway," Steiner said, noting that Sainz was already running at the back of the field. "So just make a point that you don’t do that under whatever software glitch or whatever it is. Blue flags, they are out there. Get 10 seconds as normal."

He added: "Don’t try mitigating circumstances. Who cares about mitigating circumstances? It was clearly a blue flag. 10 seconds is standard and he should have got that. Nothing would have changed anyway."

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images

He added: "First, you need to make sure that the systems work. I think they use that as a mitigating [factor] because they know that they didn't help the situation."

The collision proved costly for Piastri, damaging his chances of victory as his team-mate Lando Norris took the lead. Piastri ultimately retired from the race due to a gearbox issue.

Sainz went on to finish 18th at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Williams driver heads into the summer break 15th in the drivers' championship with six points. Piastri currently sits seventh with 92 points.

F1 will return for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 21-23 August.