Steiner confident ‘maturing’ Mazepin can overcome penalty record in F1

Haas Formula 1 team boss Guenther Steiner is confident new signing Nikita Mazepin will not be subject to the stewards' wrath as frequently as he was during Formula 2 last season.

The Russian driver picked up 11 penalty points on his superlicense in Formula 2 last year, leaving him one shy of a race ban.

Speaking after Haas revealed its new Russian-themed livery last week, Steiner has very few concerns regarding Mazepin's on-track conduct ahead of his F1 debut later this month.

“I’m used to go to the stewards with my drivers, so I just continue what I did up to now… no, jokes apart, I think he collected a few but he’s maturing as well,” Steiner said. “I think he sees the responsibility he’s carrying, from the whole team.

“We had the same things with Kevin [Magnussen], going back to those days he was always the bad guy and, in the end, he had the least penalty points, so I’m very hopeful we can sort this out with Nikita as well.”

Mazepin is unfazed by his F2 penalty record and believes he's likely to pick up fewer penalty points as he's unlikely to be fighting for the title in 2021.

“It’s not something that I fear because I am confident it’s not going to happen,” Mazepin added. “I take a lot of time to go through the regulations, study them hard, understand them, understand where that fine line is. I think as a racing driver, like one of the great racing drivers said, ‘if you don’t go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver’ and I think this is applicable to every driver in F1 because to get there you need to be willing to take every opportunity because if you will not be doing it, somebody else will.

“You obviously sometimes overstep that line and it’s not for me to decide, it’s the stewards’ decision. Like I said, I’ve got a job in F1 and I am not a steward.

“I respect their correct decisions on some of those moves but I am confident to say you won’t be seeing that in F1 in the coming years because there’s a very different driving style needed when you’re fighting for championships and potentially fighting further back down the grid.”