Haas has confirmed Nikita Mazepin’s claim that he has a slightly heavier car compared to Mick Schumacher.
This season, the German has out-qualified and out-races his teammate at every race except Monaco, where a crash in final practice meant Mick was unable to take part in qualifying.
Despite that, the pair have had a little tension over some on-track moves by Mazepin during the races, notably in Baku when he moved across at high-speed after Schumacher had already committed to the overtake.
“I would just say that it’s very important that he [Schumacher] doesn’t expect to have it too easy,” Nikita said while also apologising for the incident.
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Another near-miss between the pair at Circuit Paul Ricard also irked Mick, who told Sky Germany: “It doesn’t have to be [like that]. I think I have to talk to the team about it again. If that’s how it’s going to be in the end, then so be it.
“We do our thing, he does his. Most people can explain to themselves that it doesn’t have to be like that. At this level, I can’t quite understand it.”
While Mazepin has had his moments, usually Schumacher has eventually pulled far ahead in races, but after the Styrian Grand Prix, the Russian driver suggested it was because the two cars were not totally equal.
“When you have a lot of laps, long straights and you have a very heavy car compared to the other car in our team, it’s very difficult to stay ahead,” he said.
“I’m not happy, but I’m just waiting for a new one to have a chance because at the moment I’m just a sitting duck.
“I do my very best at the beginning and then I’m just a carrot to be caught and unfortunately I was caught, so that is what it is.”
While that might sound like an excuse, team boss Guenther Steiner has confirmed it is true.
“I don’t want to go into the specific weight difference, but there is a small weight difference depending on the weight distribution,” he said in Austria.
“Sometimes you can’t get to the weight distribution if you need to put a little bit of overweight ballast in. Heavy is never good. It’s not like it’s 20 kilos heavy, not 10 kilos heavy. It’s nothing like this.
“Obviously a heavier car never makes you faster. I stated the obvious here!” he conceded.
“But how much, I don’t want to go into the exact amount. For sure, it does something. Physics are physics, we can’t change them. It slows him down but it’s not a lot.”
Haas also confirmed Mazepin will get a new chassis but not before the Belgian Grand Prix after the summer.