Nikita Mazepin, Haas, Red Bull Ring, 2021

Schumacher has also driven Mazepin’s heavier chassis – Steiner

2021 Austrian Grand Prix

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed one of his team’s chassis is heavier than the others, but stated it has not been used exclusively by Nikita Mazepin.

The Haas driver revealed after last week’s Styrian Grand Prix he had used a heavier chassis than team mate Mick Schumacher, which he believes accounted for some of the difference in their results so far this season.

Steiner confirmed there is a discrepancy between the weight of the team’s cars. “One of the chassis is a little bit heavier,” he said. “But not in all circumstances, just when we need a certain weight balance so it ends up a little bit heavier. It’s marginal, but it is heavier.”

The difference is sufficient to create a difference in performance, Steiner confirmed. “Absolutely, it always has an impact. Heavier cannot have no impact, it’s physics.”

However Mazepin has not been alone in driving the heavier car. “We swapped the chassis around quite a bit and we always did,” said Steiner. “I don’t exactly know who has driven which chassis when and where but I think both drivers have driven all of our chassis.”

There are two reasons for the weight difference between the cars, Steiner explained. One was slightly heavier when the chassis was originally built last year, although it was within the team’s accepted tolerances. Repair work since then has added further weight.

“We carried all the chassis over from last year, just to clarify that,” said Steiner. “Like a lot of other teams did – because of the freezing of the car, the car is not a complete new build.”

“Part of it is in the tolerance when you build a car,” he explained. “And for sure over a year you do some repair jobs and maybe it got a little bit heavier there.

Mazepin is likely to continue using his current chassis for two more races after this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix. “The plan is to have a new chassis for Belgium for him,” said Steiner.

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13 comments on “Schumacher has also driven Mazepin’s heavier chassis – Steiner”

  1. I’m just ROFLMAO.

    Repair work since then has added further weight.

    The more you crash, the heavier the car.

  2. Gavin Campbell
    2nd July 2021, 13:20

    This certainly feels like the start of it unravelling for Mazepin – not that I’m really sure Haas are too interested in having him next year. He’s clearly there to pick up as much of the tab as possible before their first proper new car in a few years targetted at the new regs.

    Unless he can get back closer to Schumacher there seems like little point in persisting with him after a ginormous amount of testing before entering F1 and a 23 race season. This alongside all the “personal” baggage he brings which hardly entices other sponsors.

    1. someone or something
      2nd July 2021, 14:57

      This certainly feels like the start of it unravelling for Mazepin – not that I’m really sure Haas are too interested in having him next year.

      Why? Is there any risk of his dad and/or Uralkali going bankrupt?
      Make no mistake, neither Schumacher nor Mazepin are there because Haas believe they’re the bee’s knees. Haas have let on every now and then that they were quite happy with Grosjean’s and Magnussen’s abilities, and that they believed they would’ve struggled less with their old drivers. But money is the order of the day, and that is the one and only reason Haas are fielding these two drivers.
      Of course, there’s a bit more to it, as Schumacher’s sponsorship money stems from the fact that Ferrari are backing him partly because they believe in his abilities. While Mazepin’s sponsorship stems from the fact that his dad believes in him.

  3. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    2nd July 2021, 13:42

    Just looking at his performances so far in F1, they haven’t been that good. He seems to be permenantly in the way, spins regularly, is often comfortably outpaced by his team-mate and is mostly known for complaining or doing some iffy blocking moves on the other car. Heavier chassis or not he’s just been quite poor overall. Then when you couple that with the gross off track antics and that his money speaks far louder than his talent he’s just… not a good package. I would say he might need more time, or maybe he was promoted too early but the guy’s had a lot of testing and a lot of prep – he should be better than this.

    There’s a lot of drivers that are F1 quality out there that aren’t in F1, Haas would do better with nearly any of them over him.

    1. I also recall after last race Steiner saying something along the lines that as a rookie it is all a bit much for him especially.

      Which, when comparing w. Sky commentary team speculating and concluding today in FP2 (FP1?) Leclerc was probably waving at them discussing him as he saw himself on the screen, and how other drivers (notably Vettel, but HAM last race asking ‘what was that with Bottas’ and Verstappen regularly also clearly having seen something on those big screens and thinking about strategy etc.), well.

      Clearly, others have some to a lot of spare capacity to do other things than keep the car on track. Even Tsunoda, a fresh rookie as they come, while he was complaining that the AM in front of him (Stroll I think – Sky ‘then drop back you have a gap – that’s a rookie mistake) clearly has time to fiddle with the wheel, and he is still working on improving his English under stress to make sure he knows what he should be changing!

  4. I get get why so many say he hasn’t improved & isn’t very quick because he has improved & has actually been very close to Mick’s laptimes at times since Monaco & has also been faster on a few occasions. Go look at the Monaco/Baku weekends for instance, He was faster than Mick over the weekend more than he wasn’t yet of course people just ignore that as it doesn’t fit there narrative.

    It’s clear that people made up their mind last year & that nothing he does will ever change them.

    1. Well, yes, in Monaco I thought maybe he had turned a corner, and Mick also had some difficult moments in the car. But, whenever someone has trouble when coming up on a Haas, why is it just about always Mazepin, and not Schumacher? There is a stark difference in awareness on track I think.

    2. I grant you Mick had a tougher weekend in Monaco in terms of mistakes, but in the race he was far quicker than Mazepin. He passed MAZ on Lap 1, but then ran in to an engine issue which slowed him down for a number of laps. In this time he was asked to let MAZ through, fell 30 seconds behind him, and when the engine issue had been rectified, finished right behind Maz having been told to hold station.

      Baku he was well clear but overtaken on the RF restart, and then got back past.

      MAZ got closer since Monaco over 1 lap, but he’s still miles off in race trim.

  5. I would have assumed that the cars are being ballasted to the minimum weight. Is it only Haas that is marginal on weight like this? Also I thought the weight balance was fixed by rule now.

    1. Fixed within a relatively narrow margin, but not absolutely fixed to one number @dmw; in fact that balance is for the car as it is put on its four wheels, so it is not just about the chassis, and I’d say that when the chassis isn’t quite at the right weight balance due to fixes, that rule in itself might potentially mean a need to add a bit extra ballast to make it compliant.

      With HAAS not putting any extra money into this year, I doubt a few hundred gram, or even a kilo or something will make them make a new chassis perse when they are so far behind anyway and resigned to that for 2021. It’s mostly wear and safety that mean they probably will make those new chassis’ at some point in the season.

      1. Ah very interesting. They might be running overweight to meet the balance requirement. It seems that this is a bad position to be in design wise. Or they have added a quite a bit of cf lay up to repair those tubs.

  6. Nikita Maze”spin” does not belong in F1 to state the obvious. I wish they could get rid of him now to make room for another young driver but it looks like the reality of money is in the way of that.

    1. Money matters now…If Nikita didn’t do bad things I would describe him a slow pay driver.

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