Formula 1: Nikita Mazepin says it’s unfortunate that he can’t disappear

Nikita Mazepin’s three-place grid penalty following Saturday’s qualifying session prompted a frustrated reaction from the Formula 1 rookie.

Nikita Mazepin generated another penalty for his on-track performance in Saturday’s qualifying session for the 2021 Formula 1 season’s fourth race, the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

He was issued a three-place grid penalty for impeding the lap of McLaren’s Lando Norris in the first of three rounds of qualifying.

With that being said, the 22-year-old Russian had already qualified in 20th (last) place for Sunday’s 66-lap race around the 16-turn, 2.892-mile (4.654-kilometer) road course in Montmelo, Catalonia, Spain, so the penalty made no difference in his starting position.

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The fact that this penalty did not hinder his position in any way resembles his penalty in last Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Algarve International Circuit. He was issued a five-second time penalty for ignoring the blue flags on multiple occasions when instructed to let race leader Sergio Perez of Red Bull pass.

Mazepin was already running in last place among the 19 drivers left in the race, and he was running more than one full minute behind 18th place driver Nicholas Latifi of Williams. So he still finished in 19th after the penalty.

However, both penalties did carry with them one penalty point. He now has two on his license within the past week, and accruing 12 within a 12-month period triggers an automatic one-race ban.

Mazepin claims he was not upset about this penalty and explained that he couldn’t do anything differently.

He outlined his belief that the “gentlemen’s agreement” between drivers about staying in order ahead of the start of qualifying laps, which he was notably criticized for not abiding by in his qualifying debut at Bahrain International Circuit in late March, is flawed.

In doing so, he said the only thing he could have done differently was “disappear”, noting that it’s something that he is “unfortunately not yet able to do”.

Here is what he had to say about the matter.

"“Well, if I’m not mistaken, somebody from this call previously was asking about the drivers gentlemen’s agreement into the last corner in Bahrain. I think it was a very prime example of that not sort of working in Formula 1. I was really trying to keep to it, ever since I took note of it, but it is very difficult when two cars overtake you going into last corner, which is very slow and tight.“With the length of a car, which is two and a half meters, you just cannot put a third car there, and especially if the fourth car is arriving at full speed. So, I didn’t feel like boxing up behind was an option, because that would have left my rear end on the racing line.“The only option was to go, which I did. And yeah, unfortunately, it’s just all these things coming together. I’m not upset about it, because there’s really not much I could have done, apart from, you know, disappear. Which unfortunately I’m not yet able to do.”"

Today’s Spanish Grand Prix is set to be broadcast live on ESPN from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.