Mazepin reacts to penalty: 'Am unfortunately not able to disappear yet'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Nikita Mazepin drew negative attention during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix by holding up Lando Norris in his fast lap. After the race, he got a grid penalty and a point on his license. He doesn't feel really guilty about the incident though.
During qualifying, the track is sometimes very crowded and in order to find some space, drivers often start driving very slowly in the third sector. The drivers have an agreement with each other that they will not overtake at that point. Mazepin did not do that. He overtook a few drivers and eventually got in the way of Norris.
Mazepin saw no other way out
In conversation with a.o. Autosport.com the Russian tells that he did everything he could to stick to the 'gentlemen's agreement' after this was already pointed out to him in Bahrain, but "it is very difficult when two cars overtake you going into last corner. You just cannot put a third car there, and especially if the fourth car is arriving at full speed."
Mazepin thinks he would have got in Norris's way even more if he had caught up with the other waiting drivers, so he decided to overtake. He has no regrets about that. "There's really not much I could have done, apart from, you know, disappear. Which unfortunately I'm not yet able to do", said the Haas driver.