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The intra-team rivalry at Haas took another turn at the Dutch GP as Mick Schumacher called for “consequences” for his Formula 1 team-mate Nikita Mazepin’s defensive approach, which he says derailed his race.
Mazepin had got ahead of Schumacher on the opening lap but came under attack from his team-mate as they returned to the start-finish straight.
Schumacher attempted to pass Mazepin on the right side but Mazepin darted to block him off, leaving Schumacher on the path to the pitlane entry as the German tried to draw alongside.
As Schumacher then moved back to the left, he seemed to clip the rear of his team-mate’s car. A few minutes later, he was into the pits and getting a front wing change, having been left with suspected damage after the Mazepin run-in.
“I think it could’ve been better, obviously,” Schumacher said of his race. “Unfortunately we had the early incident with my team-mate again, which I think then caused an issue with the front wing, so I had to pit early.”
“I think, you know, it is okay to block but to a certain extent if I already have my front nose there I think it’s a bit late to then swerve and then basically push me into the pitlane.
“And I think I’m not the only driver he did that to today. So I’m sure that a few people will have a look at it, and hopefully, consequences will come into play in the future.”
Schumacher had come under fire from Mazepin the day prior for his pass during the final Q1 out-lap, and indicated that he felt the Russian’s defence will have been motivated by what happened on Saturday.
“We didn’t chat much today but I think that from his point of view, I think you saw what he still thinks about it and about the whole situation, I think otherwise he doesn’t react the way he did in this race today.”
He told Sky that Mazepin “has this thing in his head where he wants to be any cost be in front of me”, and when asked about this being a consequence of the pair being in the slowest car of the grid that doesn’t have the pace to fight the other teams, said: “Yeah but it doesn’t justify the fact that he pushes me in the wall and basically made me go into the pitlane.
“I just think that’s not the right way. Again, we’ll probably have to have a talk with the team about it.”
Mazepin retired from the race before the finish with the hydraulic issue and therefore did his media duties prior to Schumacher’s airing of grievances.
