Ralf Schumacher has demanded that Guenther Steiner intervene in the recent Mick-Mazepin conflict.
The Haas drivers don’t share the best of relationships, but after the Dutch GP, it got ugly. Over there, Mick and Mazepin were involved in an incident that could have become a big accident.
During Q1, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was preparing to set his lap time. However, as he thundered up the corners of Zandvoort, Mazepin blocked the four-time world champion. According to the Russian rookie, this happened because Schumacher overtook him and he had nowhere to go.
Vettel ended up getting knocked out of Q1, but avoided a potential accident. Tempers flared between Mazepin and Mick, and they carried over to the next day. There, Mazepin tried to get one over on Mick, and sent his car to the right, nearly sending his teammate into the pit wall.
Ralf, who happens to be Mick’s uncle, slammed Mazepin’s actions, and demanded Steiner intervene between the two drivers, if only to avoid endangering his team.
“This risk that (Mazepin) is taking does not suit his talent,” Ralf said.
“He seems overwhelmed and frustrated. Guenther Steiner has to intervene. Even if the money (from Mazepin’s father) is necessary, that cannot be the price that you endanger your team.
“With this promotion, he has nothing to do with Formula 1. Such actions at high speeds are life-threatening. The team urgently needs to intervene,” he concluded.
Not a major problem
Steiner, meanwhile, has other opinions. He dismissed claims that Mazepin was entirely at fault for the first lap incident, but said that there would be a meeting held to discuss the issue.
As quoted by Planet F1, Steiner said, “I think you can always say it’s dangerous.
“You can avoid danger. I don’t think it was a nasty move, to be honest. I looked at this scenario and it takes always two to tango.
“We had a meeting after our engineering debrief about it. We haven’t come to a conclusion. The plan is to meet before Monza and to see what we need to do to avoid this in future,” the team boss concluded.
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