Steiner on Mazepin-Perez incident: "I don't think it was intentional"

It was a moment that made all of Mexico hold its breath and a feeling that many Dutch Formula 1 fans undoubtedly remember from Max Verstappen and Esteban Ocon: Nikita Mazepin almost drove the (at that time) race leader Sergio Perez off the track.

Blue flag light

The incident ended with a hissy fit. Sergio Perez was able to continue his race and it cost Mazepin a 5 second time penalty that had little impact on his race. The Russian's team vowed to improve communication with its drivers after the scene, Guenther Steiner told Motorsport.com: "I think his blue flag light came on very late and he was already past Turn 2 when the light came on. So it's clear that we need to improve communication."

Intent?

The Haas team boss stressed that in his opinion there was no intent in Mazepin's action: "I don't think it was intentional and in the end nothing bad happened," he said. "You know it never looks good, but I don't think the five seconds made a big difference."

Mazepin, meanwhile, also apologised to Sergio Perez: "In the end I think Checo accepted that, you know. Nikita apologized to him. He said, 'hey it was really a mistake, there was no intent'. So these things happen."