Formula 1: Nikita Mazepin tipped to drive for Haas in 2021
By Asher Fair
Nikita Mazepin has been tipped to drive for Haas in the 2021 Formula 1 season following two seasons of Formula 2 competition.
Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin has long been rumored as a potential Haas driver for the 2021 Formula 1 season, especially after the team announced that neither Kevin Magnussen nor Romain Grosjean would be returning next year.
Now that appears set to happen.
According to Championat, Mazepin has already signed a contract to compete for Formula 1’s lone American team next year. The team simply have not yet publicly announced the deal.
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Fellow Formula 2 driver Mick Schumacher has already reportedly signed a contract to compete for the team alongside Mazepin next year as well, with that deal also not yet officially confirmed.
Mazepin’s father Dmitry is a billionaire and serves as the core shareholder and chairman of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company, and he has long been keen on getting his son into Formula 1. With Haas needing money and having two open seats, a deal here makes sense.
The 21-year-old Russian has competed in Formula 2 since last season after finishing in 20th and 10th place in the driver standings in the 2016 and 2017 Formula 3 European Championship seasons, respectively, and second in the standings in the 2018 GP3 Series season with three wins in 18 races.
Last year, he drove for ART Grand Prix only managed to finish in 18th place in the driver standings with top finishes of eighth place. But through 20 of the 24 races on the 2020 schedule driving for Hitech Grand Prix, he has won twice and secured three runner-up finishes. He sits in a fifth place tie in the standings with Robert Shwartzman.
Mazepin must finish in the top seven in order to secure a superlicense to compete in Formula 1 next year.
He sits 18 points ahead of Louis Deletraz (140 to 122) for seventh in the standings and 20.5 points ahead of Guanyu Zhou (140 to 119.5) for eighth.
The 2020 Formula 2 season is scheduled to wrap up at Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, December 6. All four of the season’s final four races are scheduled to take place at the track, with one feature race and one sprint race on the regular layout next weekend and one feature race and one sprint race on the outer layout the following weekend.
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The 2021 Formula 1 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 21 at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit with the Australian Grand Prix, a race which was canceled from the 2020 schedule as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.