Gene Haas on Mazepin: 'Guenther called him an idiot'

Nikita Mazepin was in the news rather negatively at the end of last year because he posted a video on social media in which he grabbed a young woman by the breasts. He did this seemingly uninvited and the criticism was severe. Haas now states that this was a good lesson for the young Mazepin.

Team boss Guenther Steiner tells RACER.com that the incident was discussed internally. Mazepin has apologised and Steiner believes he can use the lessons learned from this chastisement in his future Formula One career.

Team owner Gene Haas also says they acted tough internally, but found the criticism from the outside to be quite extreme at times. “Our response to it was I think Guenther told him that he was an idiot and you can’t do things like that and it was totally unacceptable.”

The intense criticism from both the team and beyond must have been intense for a 21-year-old, according to Haas. He believes the driver has learned his lesson. That is all for now. "The social media response from all kind of groups was extremely strong, wanting us to execute him for what he did, but that didn’t feel like the right course either.”