Haas boss Guenther Steiner has claimed Esteban Gutierrez is usually "the best guy" at obeying blue flags following Daniel Ricciardo's criticism in Germany.
After being on the receiving end of a rude gesture from Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, Gutierrez then incurred the wrath of Ricciardo in Germany after holding him up late in the race. Ricciardo went on to suggest the Mexican is the worst at obeying blue flags on the current grid.
Gutierrez defended himself after the race, saying backmarkers have to consider their own races and not just jump out of the way of leading cars at the first request. Haas boss Steiner thinks the last two races have given Gutierrez an unfair reputation.
Speaking after the German Grand Prix, Steiner said: "It's like 'oh the worse guy at it' just the second time he does it. I think it's the opposite, normally he's the best guy to get out of the way. Now he was just unlucky twice not to give someone fresh air all of a sudden when they want it, so for sure he jumps on it."
"Would it have changed anything for Ricciardo? I don't know, I guess no. The world is not perfect, live with it. For sure if he had lost a position, I understand he is pissed, but how many seconds was he behind?"
Steiner thinks Hamilton's original gesture - which the world champion apologised for in Germany - triggered the stewards investigation.
"Last week he got five-second penalty, my opinion is the stewards reacted to a gesture Lewis made. We looked at the data and a lap before him Magnussen, I think it was... there was two tenths of a second difference. Lapping two tenths of a second is a very short period of time and that guy didn't get a five-second penalty.
"I don't think he's as bad as they think, but once you get one penalty for sure now Ricciardo was pissed because he couldn't get past him. But they have to realise one day they will be lapped and then they will [see] how they feel about it. If somebody says you need to get out of the way, you cannot just jump away."