Haas F1:  American driver Ferrucci terminated from F2 for uncivilized behavior and payment defaults 

Formula 2 team Trident has announced that they have terminated the contract of their American racing driver Santino Ferrucci who also is Haas F1 Team’s development driver.

Ferrucci was involved in several incidents at Silverstone F2 weekend, with the biggest drama being a deliberate collision between himself and his Trident teammate Arjun Maini after the Sprint Race. Ferrucci had already been awarded a time penalty in the Main Race for pushing Maini off the track. Upon initial investigation of the collision, Ferrucci declined the steward’s request to attend their hearing post the race.

Video of Ferrucci hitting Maini at the British Grand Prix

The American driver was found to have driven his F2 car between the paddock and the pitlane while using a mobile phone and wearing just one glove. For all these transgressions, he was fined $66000 dollars and a four-race ban from the F2 championship.

These incidents led to the team announcing that they would evaluate their legal options regarding Ferrucci's contract, also standing by Maini “for the unsportsmanlike and above all uncivilized behavior that he was forced to endure not only during this last weekend by Santino Ferrucci and father, who accompanied him.”

Trident released a statement on the Wednesday prior to the German Grand Prix, announcing that they have dropped Ferrucci with immediate effect:

“Trident Motorsport informs to have communicated to Santino Ferrucci and to its guarantor, a company represented by Mr. Michael Ferrucci, the termination of the contract with the Team.

This decision was motivated by the events – which are now of public domain – occurred at Silverstone, as well as by the serious breach of Driver’s payment obligations.

Since the beginning of the championship, the Driver justified its payments’ default with alleged failure by his sponsors to fulfil their obligations. It seems weird that, despite such kind of issues, Santino Ferrucci had the resources needed to enter the Detroit INDY race from June 1st to 3rd while, at the same time, he was not honouring his agreement with Trident Motorsport.

Trident gave mandate to its lawyers in order to activate all the procedures needed to fully recover its credits towards the driver.”

This means that if Ferrucci has served his ban from the championship, he does not have a team to return to.

Will Haas retain for the American as a Development Driver? What effects will this have on Ferrucci's F1 aspirations? Have your say in the comments below