Nikita Mazepin was furious with teammate Mick Schumacher in qualifying at Zandvoort after believing the German had ignored an agreement to be the second car on the track for their hot laps.
Schumacher overtook Mazepin in the run up to the last corner sequence and, when the Russian regained his place, got in the way of the fast approaching Sebastian Vettel.
After qualifying, Mazepin accused Schumacher of deliberately trying to sabotage his qualifying efforts.
However, since Steiner had contributed to the calming down later on Saturday afternoon, he suggested that the disagreement was fueled more by the difficulty in controlling the tire temperature than anything else.
“I think there is no right or wrong,” explained Steiner, who had to intervene several times this season after differences of opinion between Schumacher and Mazepin.
“We tried to maximize the riders’ tire temperature and both had different options. But it didn’t work out because there was another snake at the end of the round, so it got messy.
“I think the biggest thing was that people are leaving the pit lane very slowly, and if you try to make a gap there, you can’t because that’s the first queue.
“Then you have the four and a half kilometer race track, and then you stand in line again. So it is very difficult to do this. Whatever you do, sometimes it doesn’t end right.
“So I think we are all to blame and nobody is to blame. We try to get the best out of a situation. And it didn’t work out as we had planned. “
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Steiner said that after explaining the situation to Mazepin after qualifying, the Russian had more understanding of the situation Schumacher was facing.
“Afterwards we clarified what actually happened,” he said. “At this point, he didn’t have full information about what was actually going on on the lap, so he was obviously quite upset.
“But what can you do? I mean, he went straight to the press. You got it right [after qualy]. But we talked afterwards and it wasn’t an easy situation to get into because there was more than one element.
“I understand his frustration, but there was no intention or anything bad that was done on purpose.”
Mick Schumacher, Haas VF-21
Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images
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