Nikita Mazepin, Haas Formula 1 driver, showed his disappointment and anger at himself for DNF. He had to retire from race in Turn 2 of lap one in Bahrain Grand Prix, where he lost control.
He started the race from 19th position behind his teammate Mick Schimacher. He tussled with his Schumacher through first corner combo of Sakhir track. But he lost control of his Haas at Turn 2.
The Russian rookie was enthusiastic for his F1 debut and tried to match and catch his teammate. The enthusiasm turned to be a great disappointment when he lost control his car to the left wall. He had to end the race after racing less than a mile.
Mazepin did not blamed anyone but himself and apologized to team for the loss.
“My tyres were cold and I got on the kerb and took too much throttle and spun. Totally my mistake,” Mazepin said.
“Very sorry for the team, because they deserve to do much better than that, so yeah, very angry with myself.
“Mick was very close, so I was very focused on making sure we don’t make contact and then got on the kerb and took too much throttle and lost the car. And there was no way to catch it back.”
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Mazepin is still hopeful that this lesson would turn him to be a better driver after a disappointed F1 start.
“Well, I was driving one and a half days before the race season starts. Whenever you go into your first weekend, you obviously learn so much so there are definitely positives to take.
“I know it sounds a bit strange, but doing a whole weekend itself was a big learning experience. Lots to take from it, but also one of the worst days.”
Schumacher also found himself spinning during the race. He also struggled with Haas VF21 and finished 16th. He was one lap behind the frontrunners.
Gunther Steiner, Haas Formula 1 team boss, tried to keep Mazepin motivated and asked him to “to keep his head up”. However, he was happy with Schumacher’s performance.
“Yeah, he was pretty beat up,” Steiner commented. “I mean, I just said to him keep his head up and keep on going, you know?
“It’s not ideal what happened but it happened, so he beats himself pretty badly up. But he is ready to go again, so we pushed him up again.
“Otherwise, Mick did a good job. So at least we achieved half of what we wanted to achieve.”
