Nikita Mazepin, Haas, Losail International Circuit, 2021

Qatar was a “no-go weekend” for Mazepin after litany of problems – Steiner

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In the round-up: Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says “everything happened that you don’t want to happen” to Nikita Mazepin during his badly disrupted Qatar Grand Prix weekend.

In brief

Mazepin out of luck in Qatar – Steiner

Mazepin, who was one of only two drivers to have experienced the Losail International Circuit before F1 raced there last weekend, hit trouble early in the weekend when he picked up damage in the first practice session and had to miss the second. Steiner explained how that led to a series of further misfortunes.

“He damaged then chassis, they changed the chassis and finished it off [Saturday] morning,” said the Haas team principal. “Everything was fine and then they put the car on the wheels and the engine was firing only on four cylinders when he went out.

“So they pushed it back and tried to find the cause and see if we can fix it quickly. And they couldn’t find it so it was decided to take the engine out and change the chassis wiring loom, change all the ECUs, everything possible and then put it back end. The guys did a fantastic job if you think they took the engine out and put it back in a time.”

By this point Mazepin had missed all of second and third practice, leaving him on the back foot going into qualifying. “At his track, confidence level needs to be high because it’s a lot of fast corners, medium and fast,” said Steiner. “If you don’t run, and Nikita ran the last time [Friday] morning, so did the best he could do not to do any further damage.”

Unfortunately he did hit trouble again at the beginning of qualifying. “He just went around then the front wing broke on his first lap on his first set of tyres. Then he was called onto the weigh bridge.

“It was his a no-go weekend, I would say, everything happened that you don’t want to happen,” said Steiner. Mazepin qualified last, almost two-and-a-half seconds off team mate Mick Schumacher, and brought up the rear of the field on race day as well.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Does Jean Todt’s comparison of Max Verstappen to Kimi Raikkonen ring true?

Kimi mixed with a little bit of crazy. That’s intended as a compliment.

The only bit I’m unsure about is indifferent. Difficult to ruffle, definitely. Max often doesn’t seems so much ice cool as glowering, though. Even if he’s well-disciplined and keeps that anger channelled to his driving, most of the time.
David BR

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Carlos Santos, Nick and Andy Alexander!

On this day in motorsport

Sebastian Vettel broke Nigel Mansell’s qualifying record today in 2011

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Qatar was a “no-go weekend” for Mazepin after litany of problems – Steiner”

  1. I don’t remember Kimi ever shoving another driver after a race. Max isn’t half as cool as Kimi, but here’s hoping he eventually figures things out.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      26th November 2021, 1:05

      No but then I don’t remember Max shoving photographers over before a race…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCy-ABrB1h4

          1. @petebaldwin. I think the children one is definitely not Kimi’s fault. Others yes

          2. @petebaldwin
            The marshal tickled him first.
            The mother knocked over her own toddler.
            The photographer got up in his face with a strobe light.
            Kimi didn’t instigate any of these actions you’ve sited, and none of these examples of losing his cool were against a fellow competitor.
            I refute your analysis thus.

          3. However, you are probably right.

  2. Jay (@slightlycrusty)
    26th November 2021, 8:01

    You can’t really compare Max to Kimi. Kimi has always tried to race within the rules, he’s a reputation as a clean driver. Max races like the rules don’t apply to him. Verstappen is more like Schumacher: very quick but with a ‘win at all costs’ attitude.

  3. Mark in Florida
    26th November 2021, 14:02

    Max reminds me more of early Michael Schumacher than Kimi. Max hasn’t always had the car like Lewis, but his aggressive attacks in the corners help him to compete. He does overdrive the car at times but if Redbull could build a better car maybe his driving would clean up as well.

  4. Pouchaire’s F2 championship win chance is low-ish, though, unless something happens to Piastri (or Zhou) especially.

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