Alonso “cries like a baby” and the stewards always listen – Steiner

2017 Mexican Grand Prix

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes the stewards always respond to complaints from Fernando Alonso after one of his drivers was penalised in the Mexican Grand Prix.

Romain Grosjean was given a five-second time penalty for going off-track and gaining an advantage at turn 14 while fighting with Alonso. The McLaren driver repeatedly urged race director Charlie Whiting to penalise his Haas opponent.

Mexican Grand Prix in pictures
Steiner praised Kevin Magnussen for keeping Alonso and Lewis Hamilton behind in the closing stages of the race.

“I think he’s a racer,” said Steiner of his driver. “That’s why we took him on because we want to go out there and race and fight.”

Magnussen has been criticised by other drivers, including Alonso, for his aggressive moves on the track. Alonso called Magnussen an “idiot” and remarked “Hulkenberg is right” following a run-in with the Haas driver at Sepang, referring to Hulkenberg’s description of Magnussen as the “most unsporting” driver.

“Even if you get critiqued because you fight you don’t have to give up,” Steiner told TV3. “Because everybody [says] ‘he’s the bad boy’, they want to knock him down or break him. But he knows that, he knows if he wants to come up you have to behave like this and maybe they knew that he wasn’t going to move.”

“He wouldn’t open the door to Alonso and he knows that now. Because normally he cries like a baby like he did with Romain. And somehow he gets always the FIA stewards to listen to him. But I don’t think he even tried it today with Kevin because there was no point, he knew he wouldn’t give it up anyway.”

Magnussen was “at his best”

Steiner described Magnussen’s run to eighth place as “one of the best drives of the year” so far. “To hold Alonso off and Hamilton, it’s cool you know.”

“I think we deserve it,” he added. “It was a happy end to quite a difficult weekend. Everybody kept their head up, there’s no point to get down on it. We know that we always come back. We don’t make it easy for us to be honest.”

Magnussen also had to contend with technical problems during the race, Steiner explained.

“We had also some engine issues which he had to manage. Which is very distracting, if you fight with some of the best here in Formula One and you have to continuously swap or switch some buttons you’d think there is a point when he gets distracted and maybe makes a mistake but he kept it well under control.”

“And thinking that Alonso was on the ultra-soft tyre it was amazing. I just think he was at his best.”

Haas out-scored Renault and Toro Rosso, the two teams immediately in front of them in the constructors’ championship, and the trio are covered by six points with two races left to run.

“I would have never thought that we are in this position to talking about points and be one point from Renault,” said Steiner.

“Let’s take how they come, do our best job, keep everybody motivated and try to do the best. Everything is possible and you can lose everything. I don’t calculate too much because it doesn’t mean anything. We just need to go out there and race and try to get them.”

2017 Mexican Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    98 comments on “Alonso “cries like a baby” and the stewards always listen – Steiner”

    1. Well, at least one good thing came outta it, Mag performed well.

      1. @praxis Just like a football manager Steiner is using a public ‘pat on the back’ for Magnussen intended to motivate his driver, this is less about Alonso and more about Magnussen and the teams motivation.

    2. Looks like Steiner is in desperate need of publicity. I think he will find that Alonso was right and if Grosjean had experienced the same treatment, he would be the one that cries like a baby.

      1. Indeed.

        I think his frustration is that the stewards always listen. I’m sure he knows he can’t reasonably criticise others teams’ drivers for crying like a baby

      2. Oh yes, Alonso was right.. but he also cries like a baby and it’s getting worse.

    3. It seems to have been shown that making your issue very, very clear to the stewards, repeatedly if necessary, is often the best (sometimes the only) way to spark some sort of action from them. Recall Force India even telling Ocon off for NOT moaning about stuff.

      So I can’t really fault what Alonso does. It’s far smarter than staying quiet…

      1. @neilosjames
        This is a good point. I’ve heard over and over that if you don’t raise the issue then the stewards are often not going to look into it.

    4. I think he has a solid point. Alonso is a cry baby, every race again. If he is as good as he thinks he is, let his driving do the talk, not every time that same crying over the radio. He is annoying me every race.

      1. Imagine what Alonso must be like caught in the slow queue at the local supermarket tills.

      2. He did let the driving do his talking. It was a great opportunistic move on grosjean. If anything, grosjean’s driving did the talking for Alonso

      3. Snowflake. Ask your parents to mute the TV when the radio graphic appears on the TV screen.

    5. I get it if Grosjean would say this, I’d even understand Magnussen doing so but a team principal. He should be above such talk.

      1. Moanjean is influencing everyone around him.

    6. not good parenting to respond with “shut up!”

    7. He’s not wrong.

    8. Ban the radio simple.

      We live in a new world of snowflakes can’t handle the outcome of driver’s messages, under the influence of Adrenaline and frustration.
      It really wasn’t a good idea. Similarly I hope nobody reveals what the likes of Mansell, Senna, Piquet, Rosberg .K uttered on the radio.

      1. I’ve heard these knee-jerk ‘ban team radio’ demands too often now. The team communications give us unique insight into what the drivers think that doesn’t have to go through the usual PR filter. Not just in terms of penalties, but what they’re doing with their tactics, set-up and even what their relationship with their team is like.

        There’s far too much pandering to people who decide that because they don’t like something it therefore must be banned. That’s how we get daft rules like forcing drivers to use the same helmet design or trying to ban shark fins. I hope they continue to ignore those who insist team radios have to go.

        1. @keithcollantine, if anybody seems to be oversensitive, it is people like BigJoe who are swift to take offence and demand that censorship is brought in so they do not have to come across opinions that they do not want to hear.

          1. I was being sarcastic and all the replies seem to agree with my snowflake comments which is my key point.
            Several people here have agreed that Alonso is a ‘crybaby’. fans who’ve never experienced any adrenaline in their lives obviously let alone ever competed in a motorized vehicle

            1. this was the give-away:

              “I hope nobody reveals what the likes of Mansell, Senna, Piquet, Rosberg .K uttered on the radio”

          1. I’m being sarcastic about banning them. I find the transcripts posted here an entertaining read.

            Anyone here who races or who has ever raced will know full well what we hear on radios is tame. F1 drivers are incredibly reserved to what goes on in club racing or even BTTC, NASCAR etc that see drivers come to blows.

            I’m sticking by my snowflake comments though. Anyone who feels the need to call a racing driver a ‘crybaby’ you’re the one with issues.

        2. Ok so you didn’t detect the sarcasm. I would have *loved* to have heard what Keke Rosberg called other drivers in the heat of the moment.

          I’m the last person to want to see the end of us hearing drivers *quite naturally vent their frustrations*. I would make it compulsory in all televised motorsport Formulas, not have swear words censored either.
          Problem is though, with the ever increasing rise of the snowflake generation, these ‘crybaby’ labels could just see the drivers go silent of their own choice, or either sponsers, organizers or the team deem it bad publicity.

          The media also need to be more responsible. There’s definately an anti-Alonso movement wanting to see his downfall. This seems to be the only site highlighting the ‘crybaby’ comment. Nothing on Autosport, GPUpdate and even Planet F1 have been responsible enough not to include the comment in their headline or sub-paragraph.

          As much as I like this blog, I’m now questioning the motives behind the headline. Perhaps you want to be like Autosport with the kindergarten style driver bashing……

          you’ve netted @dutch-1 @david-br @gnosticbrian anyway

          1. So leave it. Won’t be missed.

        3. Grosjean overtook the car in front of him when he was forced off the track by Alonso.

        4. I don’t agree that the helmet design rule is daft. My mother (70) has become a passionate fan and, while not clued up on the technical details, loves to watch every race and follows the fan groups and social media of her ‘boys’ Ricciardo and Verstappen. She’s quite proud of the fact she has learned to recognize all the drivers by their helmet. I’m not sure why she doesn’t just use the numbers, but she likes spotting drivers by the helmet, and the reason for a ban on helmet changes was for this exact reason. Not everyone that loves F1 is a clued up super-fan that can recognize if a car is using pull-rod or push-rod suspension based on the lowered brow of a visiting engineer spotted in the back of a celebrity photo. Inversely, I’m really not sure what changing helmet designs mid season achieves, apart from a fleeting ‘that’s nice’.

    9. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      2nd November 2017, 16:56

      Alonso to Haas, anyone?

      1. Ha ha – thanx for the laugh courtesy of that comment :-)
        Steiner will know better, though.
        Why McLaren have stood up to all the internal critisism the last years I do not know. Plenty of other good drivers out there. I wouldn’t have kept ALO if I was McLaren…

        1. Well… you aren’t Mclaren.

        2. +10.000.000.000

    10. The guys on the US broadcast have said that the driver has to comment about something on the radio if they want race control to take a look. So while it may sound like the driver is whining there is a reason for it.
      That being said the top performers in a sport always get the official’s ear so I don’t see why Steiner would expect F1 to be any different.

      1. Yes, I heard the same. I guess, as they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. It has reached a point where it’s completely annoying. They’re starting to sound like NBA players that complain every time someone gets near them.

      2. I think we all expected top 3 drivers to get special attention, not bottom ranking former top drivers even if they have WDC’s.

    11. Most drivers complain quite a bit and i see nothing wrong with that, including Alonso’s complaints, even though they may be exaggerated at times. In Mexico, however, Grosjean very clearly cut two corners and got ahead of Alonso while they were dueling and Alonso had every single right to complain and ask for Grosjean to hand him the position. Steiner may not be happy about it but it was, in my opinion, a fair and correct decision by the stewards.

      1. Best comment here

      2. Indeed, and imagine the inconsistency if he hadn’t been penalized, he gained like 3-4 seconds, verstappen gained what, 3 tenths at austin? 5 sec penalty was too little for grosjean, way too much for verstappen, unfortunately the rule states that no matter what.

        1. How about Seb gaining so much in Austin by exceeding limits but not over taking, Seb got away with it!,,,,

    12. Alonso, Hulk and all others are right about kmag. Steiner can cry like a baby as much as he wants, it won’t change the truths about Mag…

      1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        2nd November 2017, 20:14

        That he is a demon starter who regularly passes 4-5 faster cars on lap 1, and then has to spend the race defending from them?
        If he isn’t getting the elbows out, he’s not doing his job correctly.
        A reputation as a hard man to pass is no bad thing in the long run either.

        1. +1 he’s worth his seat

        2. @fullcoursecaution he is not hard to pass but dangerous, especially when he makes a mistake. This is why he got this well deserved reputation.

          There are plenty of driver tough to pass but fair: verstappen, alonso to name a couple.

          1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
            3rd November 2017, 16:46

            @pyon what are these multiple examples of dangerous mistakes he’s made when people are passing?

            1. @fullcoursecaution i am honestly not that much of an F1 fan to be noting those down ;) however this is the feeling i have about kmag now we are at the end of the season

        3. +1 agree here – MAG is worth every penny

    13. Unfortunately it’s because the race stewards aren’t watching the in car footage of all the racers at the same time. If a driver wants them to rewind the tapes and have a look, shouting on the radio seems the quickest and most direct method.

    14. I found a video that I believe shows the incident in question, but maybe it was another incident. If the incident Steiner is talking about is the one at the start of the race then he needs to carefully study the video. It is true that Grosjean was forced off the track by Alonso, but the problem for Grosjean was he overtook an extra car as he rejoined. So the question is did he give that place back? I’m guessing Grosjean didn’t. If he did (or this isn’t the incident) then Haas might well have been hard done by, but the fact a penalty was given makes me suspect this is the incident and Grosjean didn’t give the other driver their place back. In a sense this wasn’t actually Alonso’s problem, it should have been reported by the driver that was ahead of him before the corner, but Alonso was correct to ask the Stewards to take another look.
      I found a video that just shows the Grosjean overtaking the other car. It shows Grosjean was ahead of Alonso as they approached a corner. Grosjean was on the racing line, so was entitled to move towards the apex of the corner they were approaching. Alonso started to overtake Grosjean, but of course that wasn’t ever going to work. Grosjean, seeing the front wheels of a McLaren just about to collide with his radiators on his left moved right to avoid a collision, and in doing so went off the track. It just happened that when he rejoined the track he wasn’t just still ahead of Alonso, which is where he was before the corner, but he was also ahead of the car that was ahead of him before the corner as well. It looks like a Williams or a Force India car. Grosjean didn’t overtake Alonso, but he did overtake the car ahead of himself by going off the track.
      If that is the incident Steiner is talking about, and there was so much waffle that it was hard to tell, and Grosjean didn’t give the place back, then I think I’d have kept my head below the parapet.
      Here is the video showing the incident. You can see it best from the 33 second mark, and, just between 44 and 48 seconds you can see Grosjean rejoins ahead of the car that was in front of him before he was forced off the track.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlSq_R2a7t4

      1. @drycrust

        Thanks for that vid. Explains it very well. Alonso is a cry baby, but Roman did cut the corner badly and should have given the place back. He gained a huge lasting advantage.

        He would have got away with it if it wasn’t for Alonso

        1. @9chris9 It seems the video I was looking at wasn’t real. I should have been more careful. My sincere apologies. I hope my comments didn’t unduly influence you or put in a position to cause you embarrassment.

          1. @drycrust
            That was an amazing fake.
            Was it from a game?

            Thanks for the correction

            1. @9chris9 Yes, it is close to realistic. I suspect it is from a game. I was comparing the video posted above by BaKano (@bakano) with the one I’d found and wondering why the cars in front of Grosjean were different and why the things happening were slightly different. Then I noticed the Rolex adverts on the real one and their absence on the one I’d found and the penny dropped: the one I had found wasn’t authentic.
              Also, my thanks to BaKano (@bakano) for kindly pointing out my error.

            2. @drycrust

              The video you shared says in the title that it is a recreation of the overtake done on F1 2017 (a video game). The overtake itself has no issues, it was well done with the cars behaving almost like in the actual race, but due to the other cars around it gives a wrong impression.
              Just pointing out also that I don’T think the author of the video wanted to make a FAKE as he titled it “overtake recreated on F1 2017” ;)

      2. @drycrust, the video you show is wrong. Here is the actual footage onboard of the incident (video should start at 1m37s). Grosjean does not overtake anyone by cutting the corner (except for going back in front of Alonso).
        https://youtu.be/-j1Dia_B_S4?t=1m37s

        The car that is actually in front of Grosjean is Vandoorne but too far ahead, and in the F1 2017 video, Grosjean overtakes a Force India.

        1. Yes, I am afraid it looks like I’ve been duped. I should have been more alert. The video I looked at is a FAKE! My sincere apologies to anyone affected by my comments.

        2. @bakano

          So Alonso is still a cry baby, he gave Romain no room at the corner, forced him off the track and wanted him to have a penalty for the privilege

          1. @9chris9

            It is somewhat curious that my personal view is that Grosjean was well penalised BUT I cannot deny the situation is very similar to Vettel on Massa, as Massa on the inside but defending, pushes Vettel out of the track. But Vettel comes back into the turn, also because he has grass and not tarmac like Grosjean AND he was the one overtaking.
            As said, it is curious because I agree Alonso forces Grosjean off-track but I still feel that Grosjean was well penalised due to him deciding to take a shortcut (he ends up very far ahead).

    15. To be fair, Grosjeans ‘overtake’ was a disgrace, he made a mistake a corner before, Alonso went up the inside, forced Grosjean to outside, and Grosjean just completely disregarded a large portion of the circuit to regain the position.

      1. Tbh Alonso didn’t even force grosjean off on purpose, he had full lock on the wheel and couldn’t turn any more. It’s kind of like overtaking at the Monaco hairpin

    16. Kevin Magnussen drives like a magnum with a scope the most powerful hand gun in the world. Magnum should his second name.

      1. Funny comparison, but dead wrong – Mag isn’t hitting anyone, finishing them of, like a Magnum with a scope would do.

        1. Compared to Max or Vet, he seems quite a safe driver.

        2. Think he should be named MAGlite as he lights up the race when settled after 20 laps – then he is the entertainer…

    17. Michael Brown (@)
      2nd November 2017, 19:04

      “Rrrrrrrrace director, please look at the rrrrrrrace.”

    18. Nando has always been a moaner.

      1. This used to be a man’s sport. If you can’t handle racing drivers venting their frustrations, watch something else.

    19. Yes sir. alonso is “un niño llorón”…he always was…a very bad sportsman.
      Remember Singapore 2008.

      1. Oh no, you again

      2. Mr. Steiner,
        Alonso is one of the all time greats and arguably the most popular driver on the grid.
        As such, he is afforded privileges that the ordinary, dime a dozen driver isn’t. He earned it.
        Fact.

        1. @Dak Nobody cares about Alonso and he’s no all time great and never will be.

    20. Alonso cries like a Romain

      At least Mag, in spite of being a nuisance to all other, is a good professional. I’d say sack Romain who is arguably their quickest driver and hire an actual good driver, Giovinazzi has shown to be as quick if not quicker than both and Leclerc might be an option but Sauber might just outpace Haas next season regardless.

      1. ? What ???

        GIO holds the crash/lap record in F1 and is beaten by many tenth of seconds by both MAG and GRO… are you Italien or blind…is that you GIO ??

    21. Steiner is not complaining about Grojeans penalty. He is – rightly – complaining about Alonso did not get a penalty, when he rammed Grojean and damaged his car. Alonso was – of course – right that Grojean should give up his position for cutting the corner, but he clearly deserves a penalty to. Vigilante is not alowed in F1 either.

      1. Wow someone else got it.

    22. Oh shut up

    23. Well, if we remember all that moaning because of Palmer, yeah, Palmer, Steiner has a point. But, coming from the boss of Grosjean is a little funny.

    24. Everybody let’s all moan together now.
      One big moan to end all moans.
      The moan heard around the world.

    25. That’s hilarious. Steiner cries like a baby about Alonso crying like a baby.

    26. ALO really is a cry-baby. He should know better and have the merrits to act better.
      https://gifs.com/gif/how-can-it-be-alonso-crying-59nkzX

    27. I must say I am thoroughly sick and tired of Alonso, if I never have to hear of his greatness again I can die happy. Please just go away Alonso.

      1. @aliced Well said mate.

    28. Lets just get one thing clear. The above interview with Steiner, is made right after the race, and it’s not something Steiner have been building up over the last days and announce today.

    29. Just because Grosjean is just as bad a cry-baby and KMag is dangerous, doesn’t mean Steiner is wrong. Man, Alonso is a whiny little baby at times.

    30. Teams now encourage drivers to cry on the radio, for stewards to take note… Ocon was reminded he should report on fellow driver, for example.

      It is part of the game and drivers are well aware of it.

      Meanwhile KMag being a routhless driver? Who are they to judge? When Max gets so much praise for doing much worse.

      We want to see that kind of action, not that…. “Let the Mercedes paas, we are not fighting them for positon” crap.

      1. “Teams now encourage drivers to cry on the radio, for stewards to take note…”

        This goes back quite a long time. Lewis has done it several times before before, the team reply back “understood Lewis” but I don’t recall being privy to the complaint process after that. The commentators have never batted an eylid though from what i remember.

        Of course we also have the whines and cries from these little babies when the race is under the safety car in the wet. Lewis stamping his feet like a 2 yeard old for the race to restarted, several little cry babies yelling it’s not safe, then a few tolddlers who just can’t make their minds up.

      2. Exactly – MAG is no worse than others

    31. The headline really did draw in the ex-Planet F1 posters didn’t it. Steiner was more angry about the Stewards.

      ‘Haas call for shake-up after Alonso incident’

    32. I understand Alonso for being frustrated when he is finally able to pass a driver, despite the Honda engine, and then lose the position because the guy straightened a corner to stay ahead. Completely understandable. Much more than Romain Grosjean crying about his brakes for the past two years.

      I think Steiner should focus on getting those brakes fixed, and make sure his drivers stick to the track, before complaining about others.

    33. Poor guy has to manage two wrecks and listen to a lot of complaints every single race taking possible results from his team.

      I get where he is coming from.

    34. To be fair this is a weird double standard from steiner. He praises magnusses for being aggressive and essentially pushing the rules to their limits but mocks alonso for pushing the same rules with stewards. If complaining to charlie gets you an advantage then you should do it – not complain about it!

      For a team to win in f1 they need to interpret the technical rules for their benefit. This means reading the rules to see what extreme cases are allowed. Not to read the rules to decipher what was meant or wanted.

      For a driver to win in f1 they need to interpret the racing rules for their own benefit. How to drive and how to handle the stewards. Not to drive like a saint.

      This is what all great drivers do. They use every trick in the book to gain a benefit or hurt their rivals.

      1. +1

        “Not to drive like a saint.” “to gain a benefit or hurt their rivals.”

        Society changes though and we’re increasingly seeing this type of behaviour frowned upon and drivers being abused for not being whiter than white.
        The BBC doesn’t think twice about publishing driver attack tweets from the likes of @PhilSlocombe who seems to despise any driver who makes life difficult for Lewis.

    35. Well, it can’t ALWAYS be Grosjean that does the whining now can it ?

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