Nikita Mazepin refuses to tolerate "cheeky" Mick Schumacher as German showed his "true nature"

Mazepin, Haas, Schumacher — Photo: © LAT Images

Dutch Grand Prix

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Mazepin refuses to tolerate "cheeky" Schumacher as German showed his "true nature"

Mazepin was furious with Schumacher after qualifying

Ewan Gale

Sunday 5 September 2021 12:00

Nikita Mazepin has labelled team-mate Mick Schumacher "cheeky" and insisted he 'will not tolerate' the German's behaviour after a feisty Dutch Grand Prix qualifying.

Haas rookie Mazepin was left furious with his team-mate after being overtaken on their final out laps of the session, which the Russian indicated was against rules laid out by the team.

This led to a scary moment in which Sebastian Vettel almost collided with the duo as they ran side-by-side through the penultimate corner. The stewards, however, cleared both drivers of impeding.

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Schumacher responded by revealing he was allowed to overtake Mazepin and could not understand the frustration.

Asked if he believed the relationship was broken between the two, Mazepin explained: "I am Russian and the way I believe we are is that we are very direct.

"I know my place in the team, I have a team boss and I am more than happy to follow the rules because I think it is very important to be a team.

"One day the rules will play towards you, one day the rules will play against you. But it needs to be consistent so you know where you stand.

"What I don't like with people is when they are cheeky, fighting for P19. I think it just shows their true nature. I don't tolerate that.

"I will just remain being myself, regardless of the outcome and I will listen to my team boss Guenther and do as I am told until the last day of my career which is very far away."

Questioned as to whether he felt Schumacher was showing a lack of respect and was failing to be a team player, Mazepin responded: "No I don't."

Schumacher's "ultimate goal was to get in front of me"

Haas qualified on the last row of the grid after both cars lost the opportunity to improve at the end, failing to even get ahead of Alfa Romeo reserve Robert Kubica who is standing in this weekend for Kimi Raikkonen who failed a Covid test.

Pressed on why he called Schumacher cheeky, Mazepin said: "He had a good lap in mid-session and as the track was improving, there was an opportunity to improve the lap time and hopefully move a bit further down, maybe P17.

"But the actions that have been taken by the other driver made me feel at the time that their ultimate goal was to get in front of me.

"Having been faster in FP1 and FP3, he felt if I have a sh*t exit out of the last corner, we will stay where we are and ultimately I was upset about it."