Nikita Mazepin was visibly emotional after making a mistake on his fastest lap in Q1 and the pressure seemed to be mounting on the Russian.
The Haas driver blocked during a flying run at Turn 12 in Interlagos and lost time behind his team-mate Mick Schumacher.
Mazepin hadn’t completed a race lap on the famous Brazilian circuit before the weekend, but that didn’t stop him from getting mad at himself when he returned to the pits.
“What an idiot I am,” was Mazepin’s frustrated radio message after making his mistake in Q1.
His self-critical mood did not improve afterwards and looked visibly annoyed when he walked into the media pen to be interviewed.
“I was on a good lap and only made one mistake,” he said after being kicked out of qualifying. His voice started to break as he tried to hold back his emotions while performing on Sky F1.
“It felt good, I think it was our day to be really close to Williams and therefore a good qualification, but I was just trying too hard.
“I think the guys did a really good job. I’ve never driven the Sim here and I screwed up. “
A frustrating final push for @nikita_mazepin in Sao Paulo 
# HaasF1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/IB8RXBYZQU
– Haas F1-Team (@ HaasF1Team) November 12, 2021
Schumacher will again sit in the back row of the grid ahead of Mazepin as the eternal backmarkers of 2021 continue to lag behind their rivals as their car was not developed at all that year.
The young German also said he had a good feeling behind the wheel of his car in qualifying and was disappointed that he didn’t finish better on Friday.
“The feeling in the car was incredible, so I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t make it through. I have the feeling that we had the chance, but unfortunately not, ”said Schumacher after the session on the official Formula 1 website.
“I think it’s because everyone is so squeezed together, everyone is so close together. Unfortunately, I think the car may only have a small deficit – it seems that unfortunately I couldn’t really make the difference this time around, but we live and we learn.
“It’s something we’re frustrated about because we still managed to get something out of the car that felt great. Hopefully we’re a little closer for the race.
“It probably looks a bit tighter than usual. Unfortunately, my lap was deleted, the last one was about eight hundredths behind George [Russell], so that’s positive.
“On the other hand, I think we just have to look ahead and hopefully we’ll be closer for next season.”
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