Guenther Steiner says there is no truth to the rumours Romain Grosjean's place at Haas in under threat after costly incidents at the last two races.
After crashing out during a Safety Car period while well placed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Grosjean spun on his own on the opening lap in Spain and collected the cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly -- earning himself a three-place grid drop for Monaco this weekend.
Grosjean has now gone nine races without a point and his recent incidents fueled speculation on social media around his future. Team boss Steiner was quick to play that down during Monaco's media day on Wednesday.
"I don't know where the rumours came from, so there are no rumours," Steiner said when asked about the suggestion Grosjean's seat is at risk. "I think that is the easiest way to stop them.
"We didn't even speak about that. Somebody's having two bad races, there's no point to start rumours or to start to do things. The only thing that we need to do is to get Romain back to where he is capable of competing, which we all know. He's a very capable guy. He had two bad races.
"I'm not a person where if someone is on his knees, I try to kick him. That's unfair. For sure he knows better than all of us what not to do, not to do another Baku or Barcelona. But can it happen again? Yes, it could. It's Monte Carlo. Just to stop the rumours, there was never talk about that.
"I don't know where they came from or whoever brought them up. I'm not trying to say anything wrong. I think I saw maybe one thing that's on... I never spoke with anybody about the rumours. I would come to you guys if I did anything anyway."
Grosjean was Haas' highest scorer in both of its seasons on the grid before 2018. Steiner has complete faith the Frenchman will regain his old form soon.
"We all have bad moments in our life and our careers and how you feel, and I said to him he'll just get over it. It happens. There's no point to dwell on it.
" You know what you can do, get over it, focus on the races coming, and be positive. If you're negative, negatives come out. It snowballs. So we need to be positive about it.
"We know what we can do, we know how good he is in Monte Carlo or how he can be in Monte Carlo. That is what we are focusing on from here."
Monaco Grand Prix (All times Eastern)
Practice 1 - Thursday, May 24, 4.55 AM - ESPN2
Practice 2 - Thursday, May 24, 8.55 AM - ESPNEWS
Practice 3 - Saturday, May 26, 5.55 AM - ESPN2
Qualifying - Saturday, May 26, 8.55 AM - ESPN2
'On the Grid' - Sunday, May 27 8.30 AM - ESPN
Race - Sunday, May 27, 9.05 AM - ESPN
Encore - Sunday, May 27, 3.30PM - ABC
Encore - Monday, May 8, 2018, 3.30 AM - ESPN2
Encore - Monday, May 28, 2018, 8.00 PM - ESP2