As the drivers try to give each other space to begin their qualifying laps, Mazepin marked himself in Giovinazzi’s slipstream on the way to the start / finish line – and overtook the Alfa Romeo driver.
After immediately ruining Giovinazzi’s lap, he quickly got on the radio to ask what his Russian rival was doing when his last attempt to get out of the first quarter failed.
Giovinazzi went on to point out that he was not impressed by Mazepin – who came under fire at the season opener in Bahrain for jumping cars before qualifying rounds.
“It’s very clear,” said Giovinazzi, who qualified in 17th place, two places ahead of the Haas driver.
“We respect each other when we start the round and he didn’t respect that. This is really not correct for a qualifying round. I didn’t do my last lap. “
But Mazepin was defiant that he had no choice but to stay near Giovinazzi. Time ran out at the end of the session and his engineer told him to keep going.
“It’s a bit difficult in F1 because there are 20 cars, obviously in segment one where we are,” said the rookie.
“Everyone goes out at the same time and the track just isn’t big enough for all of us.
“We talked about the gentlemen’s agreement and I obviously had no problem with that. But if there are three seconds on the clock it is either you go or you have to box and you go over the start / finish first.
“So I don’t think there’s a problem with that. I’m here to do my laps and we’re all in the same world. “
Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo Racing C41
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Mazepin again had a fair share of incidents at tricky Haas this weekend. At the end of the FP1 session on Friday, a shunt left the last corner, causing team boss Gunther Steiner to notice that he was trying too hard.
“The car is just a little difficult to drive to be consistent and to be sure where it will be on each lap,” said Mazepin.
“But other than that, it’s a reality. We know, I’m not ready to think about it every race.
“I think we work very well as a team. Me and my team-mate [Mick Schumacher] both give very similar feedback. And I think we’re extracting some of the best right now and building a good foundation. “
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