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.

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."

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."