Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin has an unenviable record of having one of the shortest Formula 1 debut races in history, spinning and crashing out on the first lap of last month’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The incident did the Russian no favours after he toileted his reputation with a tasteless social media video that got him into hot water and set him up as F1’s perfect villain. Redemption may have awaited on track but it never came, as Mazepin’s reputation took another hammering.
The evil Haas VF-21 did Mazepin (or teammate Mick Schumacher for that matter) no favours at all, in the race, it was handful right from the word go until it ignored its hapless driver and speared into the barriers at Sakhir.
Speaking to French outlet F1-Only ahead of this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, Mazepin said: “For me personally it was very important to use those two weeks to go away and reflect on the weekend to see what things I need to improve and, obviously, there is a lot to do as a beginner.
“Also, it was very nice to come home and see my family. Knowing that the schedule is very busy during the year, these two weeks were very important.”
While Mazepin has no pressure to perform as his billionaire father is footing the bill at Haas, nevertheless he would well-advised to reset and treat the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as the first one, render Bahrain to a dress rehearsal that went wrong.
The 22-year-old said of the weekend ahead in Italy: “I raced at Imola in Formula 3 in 2016. It’s a very old school circuit and it was very special to race there with the memories of Ayrton Senna. Coming here with a Formula 1 is obviously going to be a lot of changes, but I can’t wait to go back. ”
“The simulator driving was very important because I haven’t raced on the circuit for five years. It is a circuit where the qualifying lap is very important because there is very little possibility of overtaking.
“So getting that push – that good qualifying round is key. Being in the rhythm from the first minute is the key factor of the race weekend,” added Mazepin clearly hoping that rhythm goes beyond the first half lap of his second Grand Prix.
Whatever the case, expect Mazepin and teammate Mick Schumacher to be anchored to the bottom of the timesheets at Imola, and probably every race thereafter, a Haas team principal Guenther Steiner explained: “The performance of the team and the car and we know what that will be.” Last of course.
As for the shambles in Bahrain, he reflected: “Expectations were not high, at least results-wise. I think the two drivers did a good job over the course of the weekend.
“Obviously, in the race Nikita spun out and damaged the car, and Mick spun once too; the whole weekend for them was a learning phase. We need to do more of it, and as many laps as possible, with all that we’ll be fine.
“It was one weekend from 23. We need to get better and better, work on getting more laps in, and keep learning – that’s the mission,” added Steiner.