Formula 1: Nikita Mazepin handed another useless penalty

Nikita Mazepin was penalized ahead of Sunday’s Formula 1 race at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, though it doesn’t mean much.

In last Sunday’s Formula 1 race, the Portuguese Grand Prix at Algarve International Circuit, Haas rookie Nikita Mazepin was issued a five-second time penalty for ignoring the blue flags on multiple occasions when they were shown to him to let race leader Sergio Perez of Red Bull through.

This five-second time penalty made absolutely no difference in the finishing order, considering the fact that he was already running in last place (among the 19 drivers still in the race) by more than one full minute behind Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in 18th place.

So he still finished in 19th place.

A similar occurrence took place during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

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In the first of three rounds of qualifying for Sunday’s 66-lap race around the 16-turn, 2.892-mile (4.654-kilometer) road course in Montmelo, Catalonia, Spain, Mazepin was deemed to have impeded the lap of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Norris was about to complete his first flying lap and encountered Mazepin at turn 15, when Mazepin was readying to begin his run. As a result, the stewards issued Mazepin a three-place grid penalty for the race, which means absolutely nothing considering the fact that he qualified in 20th (last) place anyway — and was nowhere near the pace of Latifi in 19th.

Here is what the stewards’ statement had to say about the matter.

"“During the Qualifying 1 session, Mazepin was setting up for a fast lap. As he approached turns 10 and 11 Mazepin was informed that Norris was closing on a fast lap behind him and was informed of the closing gap all the way through to the incident.“Mazepin then slowed to maintain the gap to Schumacher ahead of him with both setting up for their fast laps. Between turn 13 and 14, Raikkonen and Tsunoda, who were coming into the pits, jumped ahead of Mazepin. Both cars had also been informed of the fast closing Norris, and it is clear that they did this to get out of Norris’ way. However, this created a difficult situation for Mazepin.“The Stewards determined that having been clearly informed of Norris’ whereabouts, Mazepin’s decision to pull out and re-pass Raikkonen and Tsunoda clearly impeded Norris, who lost significant time.“The Stewards recognize that this sequence of corners creates a special challenge to the drivers in qualifying and that Mazepin was faced with a difficult situation. This was also pointed out by Norris in the hearing. However, had Mazepin waited for Norris to pass, he could have pulled out and followed Norris and the Stewards determined this opportunity was available to him without significantly compromising his next lap.”"

Of course, these penalties aren’t completely useless; they both carried with them one penalty point for Mazepin’s license, giving him two within the past week. Racking up 12 penalty points over the course of a 12-month period triggers an automatic one-race ban.

Tune in to ESPN at 9:00 a.m. ET today for the live broadcast of the Spanish Grand Prix from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.