Mazepin accuses Formula 1 of having two faces and claims drivers should “grow up”

Nikita Mazepin believes that after further disputes over the so-called “gentleman’s agreement” at the Austrian Grand Prix, the “two-faced world” of F1 should simply “grow up and carry on”.

Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring became problematic as the drivers were aiming for different out-lap speeds in order to get their front tires within an optimal working window, which meant several overtaking maneuvers and a mass jam at the end of a lap.

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Race director Michael Masi had instructed the drivers not to slow down in preparation for their laps between the last two corners, but Fernando Alonso fell victim to a Sebastian Vettel block as several cars broke Masi’s instructions.

Valtteri Bottas, who was brought into the stewards’ room for unnecessarily slow driving, suggested the chaos was caused by cars overtaking, while Vettel revealed that the drivers never honored the gentleman’s agreement.

Much talked about Mazepin’s antics in Bahrain’s first qualifying session, which led to the Russian accusing the sport of being fraudulent.

“I was made a very easy target in qualifying in Bahrain and everyone made a big deal of it when I didn’t know much about qualifying itself in F1,” said Mazepin.

“It was my first and I’ve never driven in a category where that has been applied or discussed. As a newcomer to F1, this is not discussed in the driver briefing or in any other meeting with drivers.

“I just think F1 is a very two-faced world. When you have a big name with a lot of championships under you, your actions are less criticized than if you don’t.”

Mazepin is a fan of “growing up”

With the problem growing in prominence in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Austria, and infamous troubles expected later in the season in places like Monza, Mazepin ruled out the need for a hard and fast rule to stop the fiascos on the rounds.

“I’m a huge fan of growing up and just moving on,” he said. “I don’t like to complain on the radio because it doesn’t help the situation right away.

“You can’t make a rule that works for this, you just have to accept that this is Formula 1 and F2 and F3 are exactly the same, they just have less radio coverage so you don’t see so much angry news.

“It’s also a matter of luck and sometimes the positioning of the track is to your advantage and sometimes it isn’t, but ultimately it’s about putting on a good show for everyone so I don’t really mind.”

When F1’s world feed failed to show him the full context of the blocking scenarios and was able to “stitch” drivers who are subsequently fined for disability, Mazepin added, “My honest opinion is that you are very right, but I think it’s a fight we’ll never win.

“F1 is a fun sport and people love to see happiness and anger at the same time.

“They like this range of emotions and I think F1 is doing a great job delivering that so I don’t think we can unfortunately improve that.”