Steiner on Magnussen: "We must be objective"

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner hopes that the Formula One world will be more "objective" when it comes to his driver Kevin Magnussen. Never one to shy away from confrontation, Magnussen has made a number of rivals since his move to the American team.

On-track skirmishes with Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso are just two of the highlights in the polarising career of the Dane. Steiner though has stuck with his driver and hopes that views on Magnussen will become fairer and pointed to his FIA points record as proof of being a 'clean' racer.

"Let's put that one right: he is the guy with the least penalties," said Steiner.

"It's like I think he got somehow such a bad rep and the perception is out there he's this guy which is just wild. Which is wrong. Because look at the statistics.

"We must be objective. Not subjective. Objective is how many penalties has he got or not."

Steiner also refuted the view that Magnussen's form appears to drop off in the second half of the season, adding that people were being quick to jump to conclusions.

"There is this thing out there that Kevin Magnussen's second half of the season always is bad. Again, where is this coming from?

"He has done some good races in the second half of the season this year. Was he as good as the first half this season? No. But I would not jump to the conclusion that it has to be like this, you know.

"I don't think he is as bad as people make him out to be. He's a racer. He drives. He fights for his territory. And that's what we pay him to do actually, you know. We don't want somebody who gets passed by everybody."