F1 journalist Will Buxton has defended Nikita Mazepin from universal criticism, saying it is too easy to scapegoat him.
Mazepin has incurred the wrath of most F1 fans around the world. Whether it is his rash racing or off-the-track controversies, everyone loves to attack him. Most of the time, it is with good reason. However, Buxton backed him, and argued that sometimes, the Russian rookie gets called out for no reason.
Buxton defended Mazepin from universal criticism, and requested F1 fans to think before attacking him. He also highlighted his improvement since his terrible start to the season.
“(I) feel like it’s getting way too easy and way too frequent to dump on Mazepin,” Buxton said.
“He has shown increased pace and performance since getting the new chassis. (He) was justified with both qualifying frustration and defending his position in the race, which he did without the need for investigation.”
Give him a break?
Mazepin has deserved criticism on a lot of occasions, including the incident at the Dutch GP. There, he and his teammate Mick Schumacher nearly caused an accident for Sebastian Vettel. The two have been at loggerheads since then, and Schumacher ruled out any healing of their relationship.
“I don’t think so, to be honest,” Schumacher said.
“It seems like he has this thing in his head where he wants to, by any cost, be in front of me. That’s okay, I haven’t anything against it.
“But I think if we go to the point where we defend very aggressively, against a teammate where you don’t have anything to gain, I think that is maybe not the right approach,” he concluded.
However, Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner defended Mazepin for what happened at Zandvoort, saying those kind of things happen.
“I think you can always say it’s dangerous. You can avoid danger. I don’t think it was a nasty move, to be honest. I looked at this scenario and it takes always two to tango.” Steiner said.
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