Haas driver Nikita Mazepin revealed that he was upset despite his involvement in some noble charitable causes recently.
During the 2021 Russian GP weekend, Mazepin invited young F1 fan Makar into the Haas garage. This came after his association with the board of the Podarok Angelou Foundation, a charity that works with children suffering from cerebral palsy.
In a bid to do his bit for the less fortunate, the Russian rookie announced that he would double the total raised by a fundraising push that month. However, he had never done charity before this series of events, and expressed his regret regarding the same.
Mazepin revealed that he was upset despite his involvement in some noble charitable causes recently, saying some harsh lessons from F1 forced him to think differently.
In an interview with GP Fans, the driver said, “It certainly, in a very harsh way, enabled me and pushed me to look into areas to consider areas that I perhaps would have not focused on previously.
“Because for me racing was always about working in the team, working with people and making fast laps and ultimately getting the best set ups.
“I never looked outside of the box and the thing that I did with Makar in Sochi, I’ve recently joined the board of that charity foundation. I probably would have not looked into that because my massive priority was to get to Formula 1 and then stay here.”
Refreshed perspective
“I was always very worried and scared to lose the energy and think for things that can be done later,” he continued.
“That actually the best time to act is now, as we saw this year with a lot of matters that are nothing about racing, that are actually about making the world better and everything happens for a reason.
“It still downs me that I had to learn it that way but I probably would have not met Makar like I said if it didn’t happen and seeing his little smile on his face definitely says that if it had to happen like that in my life, then let’s make the most out of it and make the world better and make sure that people don’t learn it the way I did.”