A website tracking all of rookie Nikita Mazepin’s Formula 1 spins was recently launched, and it quickly filled up throughout his first race weekend.
That didn’t take long.
All eyes have been on Haas Formula 1 rookie Nikita Mazepin as his tumultuous offseason unfolded ahead of his series debut in this past Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit, which hosted preseason testing two weekends prior.
Mazepin has quite a checkered history, to say the least, both on and off the track en route to claiming his seat at the top level of his sport, and he has been scrutinized not only for that but for the fact that his racing career is funded by his father billionaire Dmitry, whose company Uralkali serves as the new title sponsor of Haas.
So after a disastrous Formula 1 debut, it was expected that the reaction would be what it was.
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All offseason long, critics, haters and anybody who promoted the #WeSayNoToMazepin campaign were told to “just wait and see how talented he is before jumping to conclusions” and that his past mistakes should not be used against him in the way that many were doing so.
It’s only one race, but so far it’s been quite an entertaining ride for those critics, so much so that somebody even created a website tracking Mazepin’s spins, including a “since last spin” clock.
The 22-year-old Russian spun out in the first preseason test session around the 15-turn, 3.363-mile (5.412-kilometer) road course in Sakhir, Bahrain, and he proceeded to spin once in the second and third practice sessions at the track ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix on race weekend.
He then spun out twice before his elimination in the first of three rounds of qualifying, with the second spin causing even more controversy.
On the opening lap of the race itself, he spun out on his own before managing to complete three turns.
So in eight sessions thus far, he has spun out a combined six times in five of them.
Take a look at this tracker, found at the link “mazesp.in”.
Even Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft couldn’t resist saying “Mazespin” on air during Saturday’s qualifying session, and Martin Brundle’s on-air comment after the crash was absolutely hilarious (see here), as was Croft’s comment later in the event.
How will Mazepin’s second race go? Formula 1 is scheduled to get back into action on Sunday, April 18 with the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. ESPN is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.