Nikita Mazepin totally over "painful" Bahrain F1 debut

Haas

Mazepin totally over "painful" Bahrain F1 debut

Mazepin crashed out at turn three of his F1 debut

Sam Hall & Ian Parkes

Thursday 15 April 2021 19:05

Haas driver Nikita Mazepin is adamant he is "totally over" his "painful" retirement on the opening lap of his Formula 1 debut.

Mazepin endured a nightmare season-opening weekend in Bahrain that included numerous spins in practice and qualifying before his race ended after just three corners.

For a rookie, such a weekend could have had a damaging psychological impact, but the 21-year-old insists his mind is focused going into the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

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“I’m totally over it," said Mazepin. "Obviously, I was very upset. Things happened very quickly and the moment that I realised where I had ended up, which was in the wall, was a very painful one.

“But in Formula 1 there are 23 races. I have raced 12 rounds a year previously and then nine before that so you obviously have your ups, you have your downs and it is important to get as much knowledge from the bad experience as possible.

"But then don’t drag the negativity with you because that will leave you in the place where you are trying to move on from. I’m fully going forward.”

Mazepin added it had been "rather easy" to gather himself after the incident and reiterated he had learned all he could from his mistake.

"I think when, as a racing driver, you have difficult days it is good to put it behind you," added Mazepin.

"You can only learn and take on so much knowledge from a bad experience which normally is very informative for me personally but dwelling on the past is not good to improve.

“So learning and analysing was important but that was done a week ago. Now the eyes are on the next race weekend and transferring this knowledge that was taken for me in my first race.”