Mazepin 'humbled' by opportunity to race F1 legends

Haas driver Nikita Mazepin has been left humbled by the opportunity to drive alongside some of the best drivers in Formula 1 history.

Mazepin made an inauspicious start to his F1 career with a crash at turn three on his debut in Bahrain.

However, with the remaining 22 races lying in wait, the Russian is determined to learn from the experience of the 20-strong grid.

When asked how he felt to be racing alongside such drivers as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, Mazepin replied: "It’s very humbling.

"It goes without saying how much those guys have contributed to the sport and also how much they’ve achieved.

"Spending their life on their road is a sacrifice and doing it for so many consecutive years is impressive.

"I have enormous respect for those guys. I am just going to be looking up to their actions and hopefully, I will be able to learn from them as much as I can."

Mazepin's team-mate and fellow rookie Mick Schumacher reached the end of his first F1 race despite suffering an early spin himself at the Bahrain International Circuit.

The German indicated the most important task lying ahead of him would be to understand the characteristics of the Pirelli tyres as he aims to be more competitive through the season.

"[It is] just being able to understand the tyre, that’s the most important part for me, to really get to know them and understand what they need to survive," he explained.

"They are different to last year, so I guess it’s going to be interesting for the team and us to gauge more information on that and see how it develops."

Mazepin added: "I will go with Mick with tyres being the most important thing in F1. The tyres are very tricky and it requires a lot of studying and nursing them."

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