Nikita Mazepin has avoided a penalty for holding up Robert Kubica during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix sprint qualifying race.
The Alfa Romeo driver said Mazepin “ruined” his lap. The pair ended qualifying last, Kubica ahead of his rival.Kubica said he “managed pretty well to find space” but could do nothing about behind held up by the Haas. “Unfortunately my first run was ruined by Mazepin who was in the middle of the track,” he said. “When I was approaching I thought he had an issue but he didn’t have an issue, he just accelerated. So this didn’t help.
“It’s a bit of a shame because it wasn’t a smooth session and especially when you are lacking experience, it’s important to have every lap counts, to get the reference, to get everything sorted. That’s how it is.”
Mazepin caught a queue of other cars moving slowly at the Variante della Roggia. “They’re all stopped,” he reported. His team kept him updated on which cars were catching him, including Kubica. The Alfa Romeo driver caught him in at the first Lesmo corner and had to back out of his lap.
“What the fuck is Mazepin doing?” fumed Kubica. “I know,” replied his race engineer Julien Simon-Chautemps, “it’s his speciality.”
The stewards noted Mazepin took 2’05.381 to cover the lap on which Kubica caught him, which they said was “considerably slower” than the reference maximum lap time of 1’43.000 defined in the race directors’ notes.
However the stewards decided against penalising Mazepin after deciding the team had done everything reasonably possible to avoid holding up Kubica.
“The driver explained that he was stopped by the several cars ahead of him that were driving very slowly and this left him unable to drive any faster in turn six,” the stewards noted.
“The stewards reviewed the video and the team radio and agreed that both the driver and the team did everything reasonable to avoid affecting any other driver. Therefore, the stewards take no further action.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
J_Olivier
10th September 2021, 19:31
I guess Mazepin is already in the Rich Friends of FIA Can Do Whatever They Want Club. He has been escaping penalties for a couple or races now, multiple ocurrences per weekend.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
10th September 2021, 19:41
True, very suspicious if you think on the basis that drivers should be treated equally.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
10th September 2021, 22:51
True if this was Lewis he would get the death penalty(!)..
it seriously feels like Mazepin is getting more than enough lenient or non punishments to arouse suspicion that F1 officials are letting him get away with incidents. literally there was a ‘non punishment’ last week when his erratic driving forced VET into evading maneuvers .
Don’t forget Mazepin has to drive as a neutral competitor and not under a Russian flag due Russia’s punishment for state sponsored doping yet F1 organizers allow the HAAS car to be a rolling Russian flag..
Another example imo of suspicious pro-Russia rule bending f1 officials was Lewis’s bs 2x time penalties during the Russian GP last year, the conspiracy minded would think that the severity of the penalty and suspicious late timing was done to prevent him winning the race and embarrassing Putin with a BLM gesture..
It looks like money and power talks in Liberty era F1
Dave
11th September 2021, 11:40
Basically Haas’ livery is designed to fail.
Dex
10th September 2021, 20:33
Too bad we all saw this in live broadcast. This can only be called special treatment. Corruption in F1? Nothing new. Won’t make him a faster driver or a nicer person though.
regs (@regs)
11th September 2021, 17:44
What special treatment? Dozens of drivers did that during qualification. Either everyone should be punished or no one.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
11th September 2021, 0:41
At least force his team to put a Student Driver sticker on the back of his car and helmet.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
11th September 2021, 0:49
What is the point in this reference maximum lap time then? Enforce a rule or don’t have it in the first place.
PaulK (@paulk)
11th September 2021, 8:29
@eurobrun good question.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
11th September 2021, 8:13
This Mazepin makes 2-3 things like it per event…
And even if he gets a penalty, that is max 1 place further than he qualifies or finishes.
Subsequently penalties don’t work in helping him learn from mistakes.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
11th September 2021, 9:16
“it’s his speciality” sums up the impression in the paddock
S
11th September 2021, 9:48
It seems like Mazepin is the only person in F1 who does (but isn’t allowed to) make a mistake, but he is also held wholly responsible for his team’s problems too.
At least that’s what I get from this site, anyway…
Looking forward to the day when we can all look back on Mazepin as we do now with Maldonado – not with malice, but with a sense of fun. We are witnessing something interesting here – enjoy it while it lasts. F1 needs people like these two more than many will admit.
Jim
11th September 2021, 11:25
This Mazepin problem is going to get worse before it gets better
Sham (@sham)
11th September 2021, 11:45
I’m getting a bit tired of reading stories that start “No penalty for Mazepin” when any other driver would have received a sanction of some sort.
Last weekend was worse, far worse, but this was worthy of a penalty.
Though, what point is a sporting penalty where last place is a given?