Steiner will meet with Mazepin and Schumacher on Thursday before the Italian Grand Prix after two incidents in Zandvoort last weekend.
Mazepin said Schumacher ruined his qualifying by breaking team protocol and overtaking him on their out lap, but Schumacher claimed he was allowed to overtake.
In the race, Schumacher was “very angry” with Mazepin’s late defensive move on the main straight at the end of the first lap and admitted that there was “room for improvement” in their relationship. Mazepin himself said there were “no problems” with Schumacher.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Monza, Haas F1 boss Steiner addressed the situation, making it clear that he is committed to resolving the matter in order to avoid future problems.
“What happened last week, we had a meeting on Sunday, today we will have another meeting,” said Steiner.
“We’re going to work on it and solve this problem too, as we have done with a lot of other things.
“I just want to make sure the two guys get a good understanding of how to race and that they can learn to avoid situations that don’t help anyone, least of all it helps them.”
Steiner added: “I don’t care what you do privately, whether you are friends or not. But on the racetrack they have to perform for the team.
“If you don’t put the two of them together, they’ll all agree. We just have to come to an agreement when they’re both in the room. We are working on that. There are many teammates who are not good friends. “
“We just have to get it working. They are young and they have to understand that and then they can move on together on the same team.”
Günther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Haas is currently at the lower end of the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship after scoring no points this year, but is treating 2021 as a transition season and deciding against auto development so it can focus fully on next year’s regulations.
It has resulted in Mazepin and Schumacher only facing each other at the bottom of the field for most of the time, which Steiner felt was fueling the flames of rivalry.
“I don’t think it’s personal, I think it’s the circumstances,” Steiner said.
“As I keep saying, we don’t fight with anyone other than between the two of them. So that’s an exaggeration, this fight. There is nothing else to fight.
“If you’d been in the mix with three or four other cars, you wouldn’t see that because if you don’t take this step to be your teammate or if you drive hard with your teammate, it doesn’t make a difference. But if it is with your teammate is, it’s almost personal.
“But they have no one to fight against, so focus on that. That seems to be one of the problems in my opinion. There is nothing else.”
The post “Exaggerated” Mazepin-Schumacher rivalry is not personal first appeared on monter-une-startup.
