Haas F1 boss gives Mazepin a spinning top, calls him Maze-Spin

Nikita Mazepin had a turbulent start to his Formula 1 career. After a groping scandal and history of violence in lower formulas, Mazepin made a name for himself at the bottom of the grid by acting as a roadblock to other drivers and going crazy with surprising regularity. The latter earned him the unenviable nickname Mazespin, and now a gag gift from a gyroscope from team boss Gunther Steiner.

“There’s a little present for you so you can keep mazespinning,” Steiner said in a video posted on Mazepin’s personal Instagram account, noting, “It’s the Mazespin … you spin this, it is better [than] turn the car! ”After opening the box, Mazepin can’t turn the top and giggles at the gift.

The nickname isn’t exactly unfair. The paid driver has not impressed in his rookie season, especially in practice and qualifying in the first lap in Bahrain before he hit the guard rails in the race and retired on lap 1 in practice so far on all tracks except Monaco, as well as in the race in Imola.

The Russian driver accepted the gift in a good mood and suggested that he and the team not take the jokes about his performance too seriously, which they maybe should. Given that Haas was already focused on 2022 in the 2021 season, it’s likely they won’t care too much about missing results this year. “I actually count the hours, Martin, not the days,” said team boss Steiner in an interview with Martin Brundle at the GP Styria with a view to the new season. New rules will be introduced over the next year that will drastically change the design of F1 cars, with the changes going into effect a year late due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Given the team battling Williams at the bottom of the grid, way out of points in most races, there is little to be won or lost no matter how Mazepin drives. That way, the team could laugh about it on the go while killing time before everything changes next year.

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