07/06/2021
NEWS STORY
Team boss, Guenther Steiner was forced to step in and calm the situation at Haas, after Mick Schumacher accused teammate Nikita Mazepin of trying to kill him in a desperate last lap move on the German.
Two weeks after the pair almost collided on the opening lap in Monaco, there was another near-miss in Azerbaijan, this time on the final lap.
At the restart following Max Verstappen's crash, the German was ahead of his Russian teammate, as he had been for much of the afternoon, but when the lights went green it was Mazepin who got the better start and passed Schumacher for 13th.
On the final lap, as Schumacher lined-up his teammate to pass him on the main straight, Mazepin swerved across the track to block him, a move the Russian driver has pulled before, as his many critics on social media will willingly point out.
Once past his teammate, Schumacher took to the radio...
"What the f*** was that, honestly?" he shouted. "Seriously, does he want to kill us?"
"Understood Mick, chequered flag," came the weary response as the German crossed the line 0.74s ahead.
Mazepin subsequently claimed that he had run out of battery, thereby causing his speed to drop and leaving him a sitting duck and very frustrated.
"The main thing is I'm a little bit upset about losing my position to the teammate on the main straight," said the Russian. "I ran out of battery there, so I was a bit of a sitting passenger, but it is what it is."
Keen to diffuse the situation - after all, Mazepin Snr is a significant sponsor of the team - Guenther Steiner sought to play down the incident.
"There was a situation on the straight, that was all resolved, and we've cleared the air," said the Italian. "There was some misunderstanding, but we're fine and all moving on from it."
Sadly, the words "situation" and "misunderstanding" have been a common thread for much of Mazepin's career, and unless checked are likely to remain so.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Baku, here.