Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has confirmed the American outfit will be investigating the incredible actions of junior driver Santino Ferrucci in Formula 2 at Silverstone this past weekend.
The 20-year-old was given a combined 66,000 Euros in fines and banned for four races for a range of offences including intentionally hitting his teammate Arjun Maini on the cool-down lap after also running him off the track during the Sunday sprint race.
He was also caught using his mobile phone in the car while moving between the paddock and the pit-lane before the race and then refused to attend the stewards’ meetings afterwards to deal with the incidents.
Now his future in motorsport appears in great jeopardy, particularly given his initial reaction to a Sky Sports tweet which quoted Maini as saying to his team: “There is something wrong with my teammate’s brain.”
“Says the one crying on the radio. I just did my drugs test so I’m all clear,” Ferrucci wrote. “Maybe if they showed what you did to me during the race more people would understand.”
The Trident team, with which he drove, also look set to drop the American after tweeting their “solidarity” with Maini and his family over the “unsportsmanlike and above all uncivilised behaviour that he was forced to endure not only during this last weekend by Santino Ferrucci and father, who accompanied him.
“Never in these 12 years of sporting activity has anything even close to this ever occurred. We apologise for the show that we have regretfully offered,” their statement added.
Asked for comment by Motorsport Week on Sunday, Haas chief Steiner admitted it was too soon to comment on the American’s place within the team.
“I’m aware of it, I’ve seen the incident once on the TV when they showed the race,” he said.
“I was made aware that there is some problems, but I said I’m not going to deal with them today. I’m going to deal with that one during the week when I’ve got more information.”
As for Ferrucci, he has tried to make amends by giving his side of the story in a tweet released on Monday.
“I want to send my sincerest apologies for my actions on Sunday at the FIA F2 race at Silverstone Circuit,” he said.
“I used extremely poor judgement at the conclusion of the race getting far too close to my teammate Arjun and swerved away only to graze his tyre, fortunately causing no damage or issue to his car.
“There was no intent, premeditation or any type of retaliation by my actions, only anger and frustration as this has been a horrific year.
“While there has been much provocation leading to my mental lapse, it is still not an excuse and I will make sure that this does not happen again,” he added.
“I realize I have embarrassed many people and I apologize to my sponsors, Trident, my fellow drivers, Haas F1, FIA, FIA F2, my fans, friends and family.
“I also want to apologise to the FIA Stewards for not being able to attend the hearing.
“I was randomly selected for a drug test, as were others, and this delayed my return to the paddock by over an hour. At that point, I very quickly packed and had to leave for the airport to catch an early afternoon flight back to the US to attend to an extremely urgent time sensitive family medical issue.”
