Trident Formula 2 team have cancelled the contract of disgraced American racer and Haas reserve Santino Ferrucci in the wake of his shenanigans during the Silverstone weekend of the championship in which he crashed into and insulted his teammate Arjun Maini.
Trident informed Ferrucci that his contract with the team has been terminated ahead of Round 8 of the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship in Hungary at the end of this month. The Italian team came to the decision following unsavoury events involving Ferrucci at Silverstone.
The team will announce the American’s replacement for the remainder of the season in due course. The next round of the 2018 season will take place at the Hungaroring on July 27-28-29.
The 20-year-old replaced injured Pietro Fittipaldi in the Dale Coyne Racing team for the Detroit Indycar round in early June. In the aftermath of this latest development, his immediate plans are unknown at time of writing.
Ferrucci did apologise for his behaviour in the wake of the skirmish at Silverstone but it was clearly not enough to pacify the team he joined in mid-2017 when he made his F2 debut, ironically, in Hungary.
Trident Motorsport released the following statement:
Trident Motorsport has communicated to Santino Ferrucci and the financial guarantor company, represented by Mr. Michael Ferrucci, of the termination of the contract with the team. This decision is motivated both by the facts, now in the public domain, that occurred at Silverstone and by the fact that the pilot was seriously inadequate from an economic point of view.
The driver has, since the beginning of the Championship, justified various defaults with respect to payment times, with alleged breaches of his sponsors. However, it seems strange that, with this type of problem, Santino Ferrucci had the necessary resources to participate in the INDY race in Detroit from 1 to 3 June 2018 while, at the same time, he did not honour the contract with Trident Motorsport.
Trident has instructed its lawyers to activate all the procedures necessary to recover what is owed by the driver.