Nikita Mazepin distraught after “one of the worst days of my life” on F1 debut

Nikita Mazepin's Haas after crash in Bahrain — Photo: © LAT Images

Bahrain Grand Prix

Mazepin distraught after "one of the worst days of my life” on F1 debut

Mazepin's first F1 race lasted just three corners

Will Gray

Sunday 28 March 2021 20:25 Updated: 21:07

Nikita Mazepin revealed his Formula 1 debut was “one of the worst days of my life” after the new Haas driver crashed out of the Bahrain Grand Prix on the opening lap.

Mazepin endured a troubled weekend, spinning several times before failing to make it more than a kilometre in the race when he lost control of the VF-21, ended his first grand prix in a barrier.

The Russian took the blame entirely. He explained: “Totally my mistake. I’m very sorry for the team because they deserved to do much better than that. I am very angry with myself.

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“The start was quite good. I got into turn two [and] on the outside, [team-mate] Mick [Schumacher] was very close. I was focused on making sure we didn’t make contact.

“I got on the kerb and got too much on the throttle and lost the car. There was no way to get it back. It was one of those very bad days. Very disappointed."

The crash happened in the same place of the Bahrain track where one of the drivers he and Schumacher replaced, Romain Grosjean, suffered his firery crash in the Haas last year.

This time, the crash was not so dramatic and the Russian was uninjured, climbing out of the car and walking away as his car was craned out of the gravel trap, making him the first retiree of the new season.

Despite the challenging weekend, the rookie driver said there were “positives to take”, adding: “You learn a lot, you have your ups and downs, today is one of the biggest downs, but that’s life.

“I’m a human and I make mistakes. I am totally disappointed. Right now, standing here, other than having one of the worst days of my life, there’s not much more I can say.”