Santino Ferrucci is an American driver competing in Formula 2 and a Haas F1 junior member who, in the Silverstone race last week, created quite a mess.
As far as the racing is concerned, he received a four-race ban for deliberately driving into his Trident team mate Arjun Maini, who’s also a Haas junior.
Ferrucci also tried to race with U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan on his car, which didn’t sit well with either his team or the FIA.
“Everyone in the Motorsport field is aware that it is forbidden to affix to their automobile advertising that is political in nature,” team principal Maurizio Salvadori told ESPN.
“When I was approached with this request on behalf of the Ferrucci family, I tried to explain the impossibility to adhere to this demand. Against their insistence, I requested a written opinion from the FIA that once received, I forwarded to the Ferrucci family.
“The fact that this letter is circulating on social media seems to me like a clumsy attempt to take the attention away from the principal problem that is, Santino’s and his father’s behavior on and outside the track in these last weekend races. Obviously, Sunday’s tweet had nothing to do with Ferrucci’s MAGA livery request and was based solely on Santino’s and father’s behavior on and off the track”, Salvadori said.
Ferrucci received a total of €66,000 on fines at the British race, as he was also penalized for driving to the pit lane with just one glove and holding a cell phone.
The 20-year old from Connecticut apologized for his on-track behavior and said that there was “no intent, only anger and frustration as this has been a horrific year”.
Formula 2 officials declined to comment, while the Haas team said that they are “in the process of gathering all pertinent information” before deciding on Ferrucci’s future with the team.
