Sabrina faija
05/28/2021 6:00 AM
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 05/28/2021 8:11 AM
Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix ended with Charles Leclerc's Ferrari crashed in the Monte Carlo Street Pool. Earlier, in the third practice, Mick Schumacher had destroyed his Haas after losing control in the curve of the Casino. But there was no impact in the race despite the fact that the bets were "raised" against Nikita Mazepin, the Russian who annoys the paddock, came to Formula 1 because his dad is a billionaire and, against all odds,
left the Principality unscathed
.
The 22-year-old, one of only three rookies this season, finished his Haas undamaged,
dodged a dangerous (and pinpoint) maneuver from Schumacher
on the tricky Loews as soon as the Grand Prix started and had the pleasure of finishing ahead. from his partner
for the first time in 2021
. "I was right on the first lap, he was very right after," he said of his overtaking Schumacher, who suffered from engine problems.
"The race is very intense.
Since I started racing in single-seaters, I didn't need so much concentration
. On this track, although we are one of the slowest or the slowest teams, everything flies by. There was a moment when I went through the Curve 14 and I felt as if I had touched the wall where Charles left. There really was no room for mistakes, "Mazepin analyzed in statements to the official F1 website.
What a move!
👀
Some Monaco magic from @SchumacherMick at the Fairmont Hairpin, as he squeezes past his team mate 👌 # MonacoGP 🇲🇨 # F1 @ HaasF1Team pic.twitter.com/K9D3I1RpzW
- Formula 1 (@ F1) May 24, 2021
The concentration that he had to apply was visible to the world in the radio communication with his track engineer, when he was asked to press a button on his steering wheel on lap 60.
"Default driver, Charlie-85, when you can,"
they told him from the Haas box. To which the Russian, who was traveling in sector 3, probably the most complicated in Monaco, replied:
"I can't do it, you're laughing shit, I'm in Monaco!"
.
Although he finished 17th due to the abandonments of Leclerc - who did not start - and Valtteri Bottas, who could not return to the track because his mechanics could not change the front right tire, the race could have ended on the first lap if he faced Schumacher. "I felt like if you're fighting for P19 or P18, and there was a huge risk of taking both cars out of the race, I just didn't want to go to the box and be responsible for that," he explained. Perhaps a sign of maturity?
In addition, the Muscovite highlighted the work that the team did in the two weeks that followed the Spanish GP. "We have made good progress internally from Barcelona.
I would say it is a very positive image
. I am very fortunate to have been able to do a good analysis after Barcelona with the team because I think going to Monaco with the package we had in Barcelona would have It was a disaster, so we made the necessary changes and it is much better now, "he said despite the fact that the Haas finished
three laps
behind Max Verstappen, the winner in Monaco and new leader of the championship, and two of his competitors in the lower zone. , the Williamses.
Gone seems to have been the harrowing beginning in Formula 1, at the Sakhir circuit, when he starred in a spin show between practice and qualifying and
only lasted 26 seconds
into the race, after going long against the retaining wall in the third corner without contact against any opponent.
Haas again in trouble in Bahrain.
Mazepin is out in the first round.
Apparently he lost control of the car.
Too bad. # F1 #BahreinGP pic.twitter.com/TB05XzhdxX
- Carolina Tejada (@ adatejada1296) March 28, 2021
Although that was the only test that did not finish, the rest did not do better.
At the Emilia Romagna GP, his first contact with Ímola was with two spins, then
he got into the fastest lap of Antonio Giovinazzi
(Alfa Romeo) in qualifying, which provoked the anger of the Italian driver, and in the race he suffered the Nicholas Latiffi clash and finished last.
“What mazepin is doing?
honestly! "
- Giovinazzi, Italian GP 2021. pic.twitter.com/Ju5MZy04tV
- mari 🏁 (@ourmclaren) May 12, 2021
Two weeks later, on lap 47 of the Portuguese GP, he came out of the pits in front of Checo Pérez, then the eventual leader of the race at Portimao. The Mexican called him an
"idiot"
for obstructing him and the Russian was sanctioned with five seconds, which catapulted him as the worst on the grid, a place he had already won on the track. Although he
was close to being the driver of the day
for a
trolling
of
users
who mobilized thousands to vote in the poll that F1 does during each Grand Prix.
# 12: Savoir se battre pour garder sa place.
Sergio Pérez is alive: faut pas trop come emmerder he lavishes on him.
As soon as he participates in a tour of retard sur les leaders du Grand Prix, Nikita decides what is the heure of being garer for l'ami Perez.
It goes là-bas Sergio.
pic.twitter.com/OThuknlnMb
- Nikita Mazespin 🇫🇷 (@MazepinFR) May 19, 2021
In the following appointment, in the GP of Spain, on the first day of activity on the Catalan track, he got confused and provoked the comment of Charles Leclerc in the radio communication with Ferrari:
"Mazepin will never change"
.
Mazepin will never change. # SpanishGP #CharlesLeclerc pic.twitter.com/v6aUxN3Axl
- 에클 레어 (@sharr_leclerc) May 7, 2021
Then, in qualifying, he was again penalized with three positions at the start for influencing Lando Norris' fastest lap in qualifying.
"I can't magically disappear,"
complained who, anyway, was going to start last in a race in which Mercedes was also maddened by not running on time when Lewis Hamilton came out of the pits.
"This guy makes us lose the race,"
Toto Wolff launched on the radio.
On Sunday, before completing his best performance, he added another controversial chapter for what he did under the car.
Before the race, during the usual demonstration of the pilots against racism,
Mazepin knelt but explained that it was
"as a sign of respect for the veterans of World War II"
and also ran with the ribbon of Saint George, a military symbol Russian.
"
We know that Nikita is the bad boy
, so F1 is always going to relay bad comments towards him, people like to hear them. If they broadcast sweet and beautiful comments, nobody would care, they want to attract attention with that, but it is part of the business, "Guenther Steiner, the head of the Haas team, defended him on the GP Fans website.
Next week, Mazepin will have to revalidate his Monaco performance on the sixth round of the championship.
Surely, he is deluded that his mistakes are due to a mere adaptation to an F1.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix awaits you.
There, with the F2 in 2019 he was eighth in the main race.
The father of 13 billion dollars
The Haas team changed their colors in defiance of the International Olympic Committee's sanction on Russia.
The money sent (again) this time.
Dmitry Arkadievich Mazepin, majority shareholder and president of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company, made his investment with two demands:
the Russian flag on the car and the presence of his son at the wheel
.
Nikita built his career around the money of his father, who is one of the 100 richest people in Russia, with an estimated fortune of 1.3 billion dollars according to Forbes Magazine, and he has
already invested 100 million dollars in it
. With no title behind him, he entered Formula 1 with a GP3 runner-up in 2018 and a fifth place in F2 won by Mick Schumacher in 2020.
"It is very important to continue learning. It is a completely different championship than what I was used to and very demanding. But
I am sure that I will be a few years in this paddock
, so I will not worry now", said, relaxed, the rider nine months older than Lando Norris, one of those who shines in the championship, even when his McLaren partner is the experienced Daniel Ricciardo.
The reality is that Haas' need for money led to 1 & 1 and Uralkali as main sponsors;
and they both put their pilots on the table.
The first asked for a German pilot and Steiner was quick to secure Schumacher.
The other gave them a single name: the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a man who is also close to the circle of trust of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"
Formula 1 became a billionaire children's club
. If I had to start over from a working-class family, it would be impossible for me to be here today because the other kids would have so much more money. We have to work to change that and that this be an accessible sport, for the rich and for people with a more humble origin, "reproached the seven-time champion, Lewis Hamilton, who without naming him pointed to Mazepin.
The bad boy"
Off the track, just a week after signing with Haas, Nikita Mazepin starred in a scandal: he
uploaded a video to Instagram showing him groping a woman
.
Although shortly after he erased the story, the image went viral and his team condemned his attitude, but did not take his seat in Formula 1.
"Haas F1 Team does not approve of Nikita Mazepin's behavior in the video recently posted on their social media. Furthermore, the very fact that the video was posted on social media is also abhorrent to Haas F1 Team. The matter is being addressed internally and no further comment will be made at this time, "the team said in a statement.
They never touched on the subject again
.
Mazepin was "sorry" but "for the offense and shame caused to the Haas F1 Team".
"I have to adhere to higher standards as a Formula 1 driver and I am aware that I have disappointed many people and myself. I promise that I will learn from this," he said.
His problems on the track as an F1 driver do not surprise those who shared a circuit with him, as Leclerc put it. In 2016, the Muscovite
hit Callum Ilott
, who was close to reaching the category for his second place in F2, and left him with cuts on his cheek and neck and a swollen jaw. And last year he made controversial maneuvers against Yuki Tsunoda and Felipe Drugovich, who had to leave the track to avoid the crash.
Meanwhile, Mazepin talks about the benefits of other pilots, like his partner.
“We don't have a simulator at Haas, so we have to use the one we have at home.
Mick can probably use the Ferrari one, but since I'm not part of that young driver program,
I don't have that privilege,
"he said in an interview with Autoweek.
Until their arrival in F1, Schumacher was already ahead of him in the results.
According to data from Driver Data Base, Mazepin had contested 191 races and had only won seven (3.7%) and had climbed to 24 podiums (12.7%), while with the German these statistics gave averages of 15% and 30%, respectively.
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