Nikita Mazepin, Formula 2, Mugello, 2020

Mazepin expects penalty points worries to end after promotion to F1

2021 F1 season

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New Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin is confident he will not encounter as much trouble with the stewards on his debut in the championship as he did in Formula 2 last year.

The new Haas driver collected 11 penalty points on his superlicence in F2 last year, leaving him one short of an automatic ban. But Mazepin said the possibility the same – or worse – could occur in Formula 1 is “not something that I fear.”

“I take a lot of time to go through the regulations and study them,” he explained. “I understand them, understand where that fine line is.

“As a racing driver, one of the great racing drivers [Ayrton Senna] said that if you don’t go through a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver. And I think this is applicable to every driver in F1 because, to get that, you do need to be willing to take every opportunity because if you will not be doing it, somebody else will.

“He obviously sometimes overstepped that line, and it’s not up for me to decide, it’s the stewards’ decision. Everyone’s got a job and F1 and I’m not a steward.”

Mazepin expects that as he is unlikely to be in contention for the championship this year, he’s less likely to incur as many penalty points as he did in 2020.

“I’m confident to say that you won’t be seeing that in F1 in the coming years because there’s a very different driving style needed when you are fighting for a championship and potentially fighting further back down the grid,” he said.

The penalty points Mazepin incurred in F2 last year are not carried over into F1.

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17 comments on “Mazepin expects penalty points worries to end after promotion to F1”

  1. “I take a lot of time to go through the regulations and study them,” he explained. “I understand them, understand where that fine line is.

    Well he must’ve started this year then, because those 11 points didn’t come outta nowhere last year.

    I guess technically “running into the #2 sign and trying to injure another driver with it” isn’t in the rule books.

    1. Yeah, must have happened over the winter @aiii. Or maybe he knows they very well, and knows where the line is but then goes over it non the less?

      And as for the “going for a gap” thing – I highly reccoment young Nikita to read up on the reality of that line (i.e. one Senna came up with as an attempt at an excuse long after the fact).

      But maybe he is just saying that he doesn’t expect to have any chance at fighting any other cars anyway – and there is not much to be won from fighting blue flags – so he will use that knowledge of his to NOT go over the lines he seems to have tread on last year?

  2. What better way to start international women’s day, than with a article about Nikita Mazepin.

    1. How true, but she is now a big strong independant woman.

      Void of penalty points.

  3. Be nice if we could get general noise about this little …fella out of the way by about race 3, ideally reserving space in the noosphere for more significant things.
    Here’s my bit – some utterly abysmal actions on track (& by the rostrum) by him – seemingly worthy of a ban at the least. I have an informed distrust of ‘billionaires’ and their spoiled dilettante progeny – strike 2. Insta crime was a beat-up – except against Hass itself.

  4. But he won’t get black flag worries to end. That’s what he should have had back in the F2 season finale.

  5. Haas Daddy Dmitry already paid off all the stewards?

  6. Question i): do Haas have a paint-job and team-kit plan B ready when WADA inevitably find that the new colours breach the current ban on the portrayal of the Russian flag?

    Question ii): how much influence does Mazepin’s father already have on the Haas team if he has been able to persuade Haas to adopt these colours (especially in light of the fact that the Uralkali sponsorship logo appears to have been amended to reflect the Russian national colours)?

    1. Good question – I guess they will have some variation of using the same colours in a (slightly) less obvious pattern @alloythere.

      As for the second question, I would guess that the influence of Haas vs. Mazepin can be accurately measured by the influence on the livery. Haas has his name on it. The rest was defined by Mazepin’s “needs”

      1. Yup, it is rather stark isn’t it.

  7. I bet even the stewards will get on Mazepin’s case like the rest of the cancellers. They read media and are human too. In for the weigh bridge at the most inopportune time etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the first to get a race ban, exceeding the 12 penalty points.

    1. @balue Same regarding the last part on him becoming the first F1 driver to reach twelve penalty points.

    2. The only way for someone to get a race ban for the first time since 2012 is to ditch penalty points.

    3. Mazepin’s been digging his own grave for some time now, and sooner or later he will lie down in it.

  8. Ugh.. The worst possible answers

  9. Did he actually quote Senna?

    1. Senna would incure many penalty points todaj.

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