Steiner urges Mazepin naysayers 'give him time'

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has insisted Nikita Mazepin 'needs time' to convince his doubters of his Formula 1 credentials after another lacklustre display in Spain.

After a lap one crash on his F1 debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Mazepin has finished last in each of the following three races and has received criticism from his driving peers, especially for his conduct in qualifying.

For his troubles so far, the Russian has received two penalty points with one for ignoring blue flags during the Portuguese Grand Prix and the other for blocking Lando Norris in qualifying last weekend.

Asked by GPFans Global if he had any words to convince Mazepin's doubters that he is deserving of his F1 seat, Steiner said: “I don’t think I want to speak to convince them. I think time will tell and you need to give people time.

“Obviously, it was another tough day for him results-wise but what was good was that he did the laps, he didn’t do anything to compromise that and this will make him learn."

Although Mick Schumacher finished only one position ahead of Mazepin in the other Haas, the German driver took the chequered flag over 49 seconds ahead.

Despite the chasm that separated his two drivers, Steiner again backed the Russian to succeed.

He added: “You’ve always got more naysayers than 'yaysayers' so I’ve actually no interest, not in speaking to them but just to justify because then that is a never-ending story. That will always be the answer to that one.

“I am always a big believer in these things. You need to keep your head down and it is not how you get down, it is how you get up so you just need some time and I wouldn’t say I avoid the questions, I don’t answer them.”

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