Nikita Mazepin has apologised to Mick Schumacher after the Haas Italian GP.
The Haas drivers are always at the centre of some or the other controversy. At Monza, it was the drivers making contact for the umpteenth time this season. The Russian driver hit his teammate and sent him spinning off on track. This time, however, Mazepin has held his hands up and surprisingly admitted guilt.
As quoted by the Race, Mazepin said, “I think that one is really simple. It was my mistake and I have no shame (in having) to apologise.
“I’m sure he will make a lot of mistakes in the future, and I will make a lot of mistakes in the future, and the most important thing is to remain a human.
“It was my mess-up, no discussion on it. I deserved the penalty, even though it wasn’t on purpose, and I was fortunate he didn’t lose too much time by it. He was able to spin the car round straight away. It was my fault, now I just say sorry.”
Mazepin says things were not in his hands
Mazepin also explained what had happened on track, and why he couldn’t have done anything to stop it.
“When you have a car that doesn’t have much downforce, it’s difficult to stay close, and you really only have one opportunity to go for it.
“I felt like Mick braked early, so I put my nose there. And then when my nose was there, it wasn’t enough to say the corner was mine. It was just a racing thing. It happens a lot, you’ve seen it for so many drivers. I did totally deserve a penalty but I couldn’t have done anything when I was there,” he concluded.
His teammate Schumacher, to his credit, was also professional about the whole situation.
“Things happen, we race closely – I think obviously there was a lot of things happening in that race,” Schumacher said.
“I think we don’t want to have an issue because we have to work as a team, we want to bring the team forward, and that’s what’s important at the moment.”
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