Haas not dwelling on risk of Grosjean race ban

Haas Formula 1 chief Günther Steiner is refusing to dwell on the possibility of Romain Grosjean receiving a one-race ban, with the Frenchman just two penalty points away from being forced to sit out a grand prix weekend.

Grosjean picked up a three-place grid penalty for the Mexican Grand Prix after a clash with Charles Leclerc on the opening lap of last Sunday's race in Austin, as well as collecting one more penalty point on his FIA Super License.

The incident saw Grosjean move onto 10 points for the 12-month period, with any driver hitting 12 points in that timeframe receiving a one-race ban.

Grosjean will drop one point on October 29 - one day after Sunday's race in Mexico - putting him one incident away from a potential race ban in Brazil.

While Steiner said Haas had "joked about" needing a replacement driver for Grosjean, he stressed the team was not dwelling on the possibility, doubting one would be required.

"No, I wouldn’t bandage my head before I’ve got a hole in it. When it happens, I deal with it," Steiner said.

"Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but when it happens, if I start to work now on things which could happen, I would have a lot to do, so that’s my opinion about it.

"If it happens, we are pretty well prepared for any eventuality. There are a few people out there I would call up and see if they would drive.

"But I think it will be good."

FIA race director Charlie Whiting clarified post-race that the 12-month period specified in the regulations does go from date to date, not event to event, meaning Grosjean will only drop the one point he picked up at last year's Mexican Grand Prix on October 29.

"If he got three on the 28th, I think he would be very silly," Whiting said.

"He's got to be very careful on the 28th by the sounds of things."