By Joe Man
There have been many drivers over the years who’s seat has been secured by the pockets of a billionaire. It’s been a part of F1 for a long time. Whether they deserve to be there is a question for another time but Nikita’s story is an interesting one.
We all watched his first year in F1 and wondered at times whether he could drive the car at all!
Countless spins most weekends and he crashed on his own by lap three of his first race. He was frequently a long way behind his teammate and struggled to get to grips with the car.
Having said all that, the car beneath him was about as quick as a 1986 Ford Cortina! Haas very quickly announced they where writing the 2021 car off with no development. Instead they would throw all their finances at the 2022 car and the huge regulation changes. Therefore Nikita and his team mate Mick Schumacher would have to endure a season miles behind everyone else.
Still somehow Mazepin upset nearly every driver on the grid at some stage! Looking into his history you start to see why.
First things first Mazepin has actually never won anything barre the Russian Karting championship and a few races here and there. Most drivers on the grid have won F2, F3 or GP3 championships, but not the Russian.
His first year in Formula 3 he only scored 8 points and finished 20th. His season was more remembered for blocking, rising Formula 2 star Callum Illott, and then punching him in the face in an after race altercation. For this he only received a one race ban infuriating many.
Nevertheless he was retained for another season coming home in tenth.
He then switched to GP3 having probably his best season and finishing second to the late Anthoine Hubert.
Formula 2 folllowed for Mazepin with a similar story. He finished 18th and again was more remembered for causing a nasty accident. The fact his team mate in the same car Nyck de Vries won the championship makes it even worse. His second season he signed for Hi Tech Grand Prix winning his first race at the British Grand Prix. Once again his season though was mired by clashes with other drivers.
At this stage Mazepin joins the chosen few and reaches Formula 1.
It’s reported that Nikita’s dad Dmitry Mazepin paid tens of millions in sponsorship to get his son the racing seat.
His journey started in the worst possible way with a video getting released of Mazepin groping a woman in a taxi and there where strong calls for him to be removed from the team.
These calls fell on deaf ears though and the 2021 shambles began.
It’s important to remember that last year, other than his team mate, he raced no one. Yet still week after week in practice,qualifying and the race he would impede other drivers, spin and crash. There is a video on you tube of him getting sworn at by every other driver!!
So I ask myself the question. What would it be like if he had a competitive car?
When interviewed Mazepin doesn’t come across as someone who really cares what anyone thinks accept his dad. He talks of most of his actions being out of respect for his father.
His racing style has been one of aggression even though his only job for the year was basically obey blue flags.
If Haas has nailed their new car design and it is competitive I would expect Mick Schumacher will leave Mazarin for dead. Nikita though won’t take it lying down and I suspect it will be one of the most hostile driver pairings of the year.
With his history of getting into incidents with others drivers, someone needs to calm him down before he starts racing other drivers for real.
2022 is going to be fought in close combat and I cant really see it ended anything but badly for the Russian star.
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