Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has said Nikita Mazepin “needs to grow up” and insisted that they are not simply “letting him get away” with his conduct.
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He made the remarks in his latest column for The Race and said it’s important that Mazepin now focuses on getting ready for his debut season in Formula One.
“He did something he shouldn’t have done, and we were very outspoken about what we thought about it at the time,” Steiner wrote in his column.
“He’s apologised and he knows it was wrong, and now we need to work on it to give him the best opportunity to learn from this, concentrate on his racing and ensure he doesn’t do it anymore.
“He knows that. He realises that what was done wasn’t right.
“This is not done and dusted, this is an ongoing thing, we are not moving on like nothing ever happened I’m not the type of guy who kicks in the face someone who’s on their knees – that’s not right.
“This is a young man who needs to grow up and for sure we have dealt with this and we will continue to deal with this.
“We are not saying that this was OK and letting him get away with it. We are educating him and will keep on educating him for his future,” Steiner added.
Continuing, the Haas F1 team principal said Nikita Mazepin will face further consequences if a repeat of the incident or something similar happens again.
“There will be consequences if this or something similar happens again.
“We have put things in place that will help him to get better and make sure this doesn’t happen again; not to make the same mistake again, because this was a clear mistake.
“But the full details of what we did, and what we are doing – I don’t want to disclose.
“This is not done and dusted, this is an ongoing thing, we are not moving on like nothing ever happened,” Steiner added.
Following the incident last month, a petition calling on the Haas F1 Team to fire Nikita Mazepin was launched – and it has since secured over 45,000 signatures.
However, the Haas F1 Team recently confirmed that Mazepin will nevertheless still be driving for them in 2021.