Nikita Mazepin has apologized to Mick Schumacher at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after his near miss, but insists he only offered an apology because his Haas teammates were upset and not for the incident.
Schumacher was closing in on Mazepin for 13th on the final lap, but as he passed his teammate, Mazepin proceeded to block Schumacher.
That moment happened at the fastest point on the circuit - over 200 mph - but Schumacher managed to avoid the collision by going to the right and finishing 0.07 seconds ahead of his teammate.
"What f--- was that?" An enraged Schumacher asked his engineer on the team radio shortly after the race. "Honestly, does he want to kill us?"
Speaking ahead of this weekend's French Grand Prix, Schumacher said the two drivers met with team principal Genther Steiner and chief engineer Ayo Komatsu after the race to clear the air.
"He called me in, we talked about it together and he [Mazepin] apologized for it after watching the video - so we're all right in that sense," Schumacher said.
"At the moment it's rather, well, confusing, in a way because I wasn't expecting it at all, especially among teammates.
"I understand that was the last stop - we're all fighting - but if you come in like that, you use up what's left in terms of battery [hybrid power], and use up everything." Well, there's no stopping, and the way you stop someone is by intimidating him or pushing him into the wall and apparently he tried to do that.
"I, in fairness, put my foot down and went to him anyway, but as I said, it was unexpected on my part and that's why I had such a strong reaction afterwards."
When Mazepin was asked about the apology given to his teammate, he suggested that he only offered it to Schumacher because he was upset.
"Our discussions that go on within the team, I believe should stay with the team," Mazepin said.
"However, if it had already been brought out, all I would say is that I apologized to him if he felt that way, and he was obviously very upset, but I would say that it is very important that he take it very seriously." Don't expect it to be easy.
"I'm never going to be blocked for any reason, or a second, but I clearly didn't expect him to be where he was.
"If she felt the same way as she did, I said sorry because I think that's what I should do. However, it wasn't for my particular tasks at the time."
Mazepin also underestimated the seriousness of what happened in Baku.
"There was no incident - both cars returned with the front wings in the pits and the paint work as polished as it was just before the race," he said. "So I want to look at it in a very positive way.
“I think there has been some misunderstanding between us. I thought he would choose the inner line, but he chose the outer line, but when I saw that he was committed to it I backed down because in the end we ' I am not fighting for any points and the result of the team is a priority for me.
"I think we have a positive vibe in the team, it's been like that from day one, and it continues to be so.
"And obviously with both young drivers you get to that sort of limit, but as I said, as long as the cars come back with each other in one piece, I think that's fine with the team owner. is."