Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has rubbished claims Romain Grosjean could be axed following his recent poor results.
The Frenchman has crashed out of the last two races, sliding into the wall behind the Safety Car in Baku before losing control and creating a smokescreen which resulted in Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg colliding with him.
This weekend in Monaco, Grosjean will have a three-place grid penalty because of his actions in Barcelona and even though he is also largely being outclassed by teammate Kevin Magnussen, Steiner insists his job is safe.
“We didn’t even speak about it,” the Haas chief told Motorsport.com.
“When somebody has two bad races there’s no point to start rumours, or to start to do things about it. The only thing that we need to do is to get Romain back to where he is capable of competing – we all know [he] is a very capable guy.
“I’m not a person when if someone’s on his knees I try to kick him, that’s unfair. He knows better than all of us what not to do, [after] Baku and Barcelona."
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Asked if another crash in Monaco might change the team's stance, the Italian added: "Can it happen again? Yes, it could. It’s Monte Carlo. But just to stop the rumours, there was never talk about that.”
Another driver facing speculation is Toro Rosso's Brendon Hartley, with the junior Red Bull team reportedly considering Pascal Wehrlein as soon as the next race in Canada.
The Kiwi seemed bemused when asked about the rumour in Monaco though.
“I was surprised to hear that. I have a contract, so I was surprised to hear,” he told Crash.net.
“There’s always a lot of rumours in Formula 1, so as a driver, it’s better not to read too much.
"I’m working very hard behind the scenes. I know I’m more than capable. I think people sometimes have quite short memories in Formula 1. Things move very quick, and from one weekend to the next, the whole story can be a very different one.
“There are plenty of critics. As a driver, you’re your own biggest critic.”
