Ralf Schumacher has hit out at his nephew's teammate, Nikita Mazepin, warning that the Russian is "endangering" his team and should not be in F1.

Barely a session goes by without at least one driver expressing his feelings in terms of Nikita Mazepin's trackcraft... or lack of it.

In qualifying last weekend it was Sebastian Vettel, the German failing to make it out of Q1 after almost being taken out by the Russian as he squabbled with his Haas teammate.

Next day, along with another encounter with said teammate, Mazepin also found time to compromise Sergio Perez as the Mexican sought to work his way through the field after starting from the pitlane.

However, it was the early clash with Mick Schumacher, Mazepin pulling one of his customary stunts by suddenly moving across the track, causing damage to his teammate's front wing, thereby necessitating an early pit stop, that particularly riled racer come TV pundit, not to mention Schumacher's uncle, Ralf Schumacher.

"Mick was in a perfect position to overtake when Mazepin twitched and pulled over and even broke Mick's front wing in the process," he told Sky Germany.

"Such actions at these high speeds are life-threatening," he added. "With actions like this, Nikita has no place in Formula 1.

"The risks he is taking do not go with his talent," insisted the German, winner of 6 Grands Prix. "He seems overwhelmed and frustrated.

"Guenther Steiner has to intervene now and urgently. Even if the money is necessary, that cannot be the price for endangering your team."

Over on Sky Sports, Jenson Button, Schumacher's 2000 teammate at BMW Williams, agreed.

"It was a little bit too aggressive," said the Briton. "You can't react to something like that, that's the problem. It was super-quick the way he moved across the circuit.

"It doesn't matter what happened in qualifying and it shouldn't affect the way you drive in the race," he added. "And if it does, you are in the wrong sport because this is a dangerous sport.

"If he wants any longevity in his career in F1 then he needs to change his attitude because he is way too aggressive. You can't be that reactive to a situation, it's how you react to mistakes that makes you the person and racing driver you are."

"I've got a team boss and I'm more than happy to follow the rules because I think it's very important to be a team, and one day the rules will play towards you, one day the rules will play against you," said Mazepin in response to the incident, according to F1i, "but at least it's consistent and you know where you stand.

"What I don't like with people is when they are cheeky, fighting for P19," he added. "I think it just shows their true nature and I don't tolerate that. I will just remain being myself, regardless of the outcome and I will listen to my team boss, which is Gunther and do as I'm told, until the last day of my Formula 1 career... which hopefully is very far away."