Nikita Mazepin admits he is "pretty lost" when it comes to setting up his 2021 Haas car.
The Russian rookie has already hit out at the extra weight of his chassis compared with teammate Mick Schumacher’s.
Amid rumours of a rift between Gunther Steiner and Mazepin’s wealthy father and team title sponsor, the Haas boss played down the overweight car story on Friday.
"I think both drivers have driven all of our chassis," Steiner insisted.
As for his struggle to set up his car, Mazepin explained: "The problem is that the setups don’t really make sense to me in terms of feedback, so I’m pretty lost on that.
"I always went in with the attitude that the driver does his job and the engineers do theirs," said the 22-year-old. "But at the moment we are speaking a different language a little bit.
"I probably need some engineering lessons," Mazepin added.
"I’m going to learn a few more details so I can communicate better with the team about how to make the car faster, because the way it is going at the moment is not very promising."