Haas boss Guenther Steiner offered a sharp response after Romain Grosjean questioned the future of the American team in Formula 1.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, speculation arose that Haas owner Gene Haas could pull the plug on the F1 outfit after just five years if results didn't improve in 2020.
Since then, however, a number of cost-saving and competitive measures have been put in place from next year and beyond to try and keep the current 10-team grid.
Even so, commenting on his future in F1 next year on Thursday, Grosjean suggested it depended as much on Haas as it did himself.
“There are a lot of question marks here," he said. "Let's get rid of the elephant in the room, is Haas going to be here next year or not? That's obviously the question.
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"What are the other places are available? Obviously the market got shaken up quite quickly this year with the Ferrari announcement and the following things, so we'll see what the opportunities are.
"Personally I'll see also what I'd like to do, and what I feel like doing in the future. Looking a little bit, but also not rushing everything, and seeing how things are going.”
Grosjean followed up by insisting there was no indication from Haas over whether the team may leave F1 after this season.
But that didn't stop this unexpectedly strong rebuke from team boss Steiner.
“I think his answer was the wrong answer because he was asked what he is doing, and he spoke for the team. I think the elephant is in his room, not in our room,” he told Sky Sports.
“We know what we want to do, and if we are here or not, that will be decided once we sign the new Concorde. Everything is on the way that this will happen.
“I’m still confident that we will be here. So I think the elephant needs to go out of the room, and into Romain’s room.”
