Haas principal Steiner reprimanded, apologizes for calling race stewards 'laymen'

MONTMELO, Spain (AP) — Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was reprimanded by the FIA on Sunday for calling the race stewards at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix "laymen" after he disagreed with their decision to penalize one of his drivers.

The reprimand will not incur a penalty or fine.

Steiner apologized to stewards in a meeting on Saturday. He made that apology public in a statement released by Haas on Sunday before the Spanish GP.

Steiner attracted the attention of race officials when he said on Thursday: "F1 is one of the biggest sports in the world, and we still have laymen deciding on the fate of people who invest millions in their careers."

Steiner was angry about a penalty given to Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg at Monaco.

On Sunday, he said that he had apologized to the stewards if his words had been "misunderstood."

"I had not intended to offend anyone and that my use of certain words could have been open to misinterpretation or misunderstood by some people," he said.