Nikita Mazepin, Haas, Bahrain International Circuit, 2021

Mazepin “almost crashed” experimenting with Giovinazzi’s slipstream

2021 F1 season

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Nikita Mazepin admitted he nearly crashed his Haas while trying to discover how strong the turbulent air was behind another Formula 1 car.

The Haas driver, who has graduated from Formula 2 this year, said he wanted to discover how his car handled while running behind another car.

“It’s an ongoing topic that Formula 1 cars have a lot of downforce and do lose a lot of downforce following other cars,” Mazepin explained.

“With such limited running, and obviously a lot of cars being most likely in front of me at the start of the race in Bahrain, I wanted to experience the amount of downforce that I will lose.

“I did get to experience that. I almost crashed, to be honest, because the wind was huge and that was a bit of a worrying moment. But good to try it.”

Mazepin’s car snapped to the right at the exit of turn three – close to where his Haas predecessor Romain Grosjean had his enormous, fireball crash in last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Antonio was on a lower-fuel run and was doing not consecutive laps,” said Mazepin. “I was going for the whole race distance and my pace was slower so he overtook me and I wanted to stay behind and learn my way through.”

Mazepin said the turbulence feels much stronger in F1 than it did in F2. “There’s a very big difference, but it’s not a surprise to me,” he said.

“F2 does have a lot of downforce as well. It’s a heavier car so there are small gains here and there. But overall it’s not a new thing to me because races are more difficult.”

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5 comments on “Mazepin “almost crashed” experimenting with Giovinazzi’s slipstream”

  1. Thy first acolyte of our Lord and Savior Crashtor, Nikita Crashepin has come.

    1. Following the steps of the GOAT, Blewis Ramilton

    2. Crashtor was a meme and is still remembered as a meme. About Nikita…we’ll find out soon.

  2. Here’s the link, hopefully working this time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GKdWoHVqLI

  3. He did save it nicely.

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