Nikita Mazepin rated his debut season, saying that all things considered, it was a great 2021 for him.
Mazepin contested his rookie season in 2021 after arriving from Formula 2. He joined fellow F2 graduate and champion Mick Schumacher at Haas. However, things didn’t go according to plan for him, with last place all he could salvage.
The Russian driver looked way off the pace every race weekend, and was never on the level of his teammate in the same car. He was also a track hazard multiple times, with many drivers complaining about the way he raced.
Mazepin rated his debut season, and said that he was happy with the year he had.
As quoted by Motorsport.com, he said, “I finished school four years ago and that’s the last time I was receiving marks and I don’t really miss it so much.
“I never think you should get a five because five is excellence (in Russia school marks are from 2 to 5) and I don’t know what excellence is. Today it might be excellent, but tomorrow I realise I can do something more.
“So four is the maximum I can give myself. So I guess four for sticking through it, because the times were really tough this year at certain points. Probably a three for adaptation because that hasn’t been my strong point and I keep improving on it.”
Adaptations
“I used a few different cars this year, so certainly when I used the cars I have found difficult or heavy, it was the lower moments,” he continued.
“Then I also made some mistakes like in the Bahrain race and some other events where I didn’t feel like I performed well, or I tried too hard and then ultimately lost my lap time like in Brazil, where I believe we had a chance of outqualifying Williams or going into Q2.
“That was definitely the low moments, but the high moments are…many races. I had a good race at Silverstone, in Brazil and Mexico.”
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