Nikita Mazepin was born in Moscow on March 2, 1999, and at the age of 12 he began his career in lower categories. In his first courses training as a driver, the Russian did not manage to become champion in any series, but in 2014 he was about to savor the honey of victory in the CIK-FIA World Championship when he finished in second position.
This performance allowed him to pass the single-seaters, disputing categories such as the MRF Challenge, the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC or the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup , series through which many other drivers who reached the Great Circus have also passed, such as Felipe Massa, Valtteri Bottas, Pierre Gasly or Lando Norris.
However, it was not until four courses later that we saw Mazepin on the same tracks he visited in Formula 1, when he made the jump to the GP3 Series with the ART Grand Prix team. The Russian signed a contract that would partner Callum Ilott, Anthoine Hubert and Jake Hughes , but by then he had already become a test driver for a top-flight team.
His experience in the European F3 Championship , where he finished a poor 20th after taking 10 points from 30 races, was enough to get him linked to Force India.
With the now extinct Formula 1 team, Mazepin was in charge of participating in various tests during 2017 and 2018, alternating these training sessions with his program in the GP3 Series. In the third step of single-seater motorsport, the Muscovite managed to improve his results, and in his debut year he was runner-up, with four victories and 198 points, only 16 units behind the winner, Hubert.
After this, ART Grand Prix offered him the chance to move up to the prelude to the Grand Circus, F2. Far from shining, Mazepin was a disappointment in 2019, finishing 18th with just 11 points from 24 races.
However, the Russian was able to enjoy getting behind the wheel of a world champion single-seater, the Mercedes W10, since in the Barcelona mid-season tests he set the best time of the second day, with a 1:15.775.
After a fateful campaign, the Russian took another path and went to Hitech for 2020, which would ultimately be his consolidation season. With two victories he rose to 5th place, although he was not without controversy, since in the Belgian Grand Prix he was stripped of his victory due to an action to the limit with Yuki Tsunoda in the final meters of the race.
In Bahrain, the circuit that closed the F2 season, he starred in another questionable move, since he locked Felipe Drugovich against the wall. During that weekend it was confirmed that he would become a regular Formula 1 driver with Haas for the following campaign, which is why his adventure has already started with controversy.
To this was added a despicable action in which he appeared groping a girl inside a car. In addition, the Russian uploaded the video to his social networks, something that, minutes later, he deleted, but that caused the rejection of the entire motor world.
However, this was not the only controversial episode in which he was involved, since in April 2016 he hit Ilott moments before an F3 race , causing the Briton injuries to the face and neck. The organization decided to exclude him for unsportsmanlike conduct from the European F3 event in Hungary, although team owner Frits van Amersfoort called the sanction “ridiculous”.
Already in F1, he did not have a great start, he left at the first change in his debut. Mazepin was the meat of montages and laughter on social networks, and this affected him, even breaking down in tears after qualifying for the Brazilian GP due to his poor results, although he improved as the year progressed.
In the last appointment of the season he could not be present because he tested positive for COVID-19, and his journey in the Great Circus ended in a wall in Jeddah , where he crashed in a multiple accident.
Nikita Mazepin says goodbye to Formula 1 in the same way he arrived, with much controversy and with Uralkali , his father Dimitry’s company, hand in hand. Now, the Russian family will be forced to say goodbye to the Great Circus, or at least see you later for a long period of time.
