Nikita Mazepin announced that Haas tried to “prank” her closest rival in free practice for the Russian Grand Prix – but it didn’t work.
Haas can target Williams and Alfa Romeo even on a good day this season due to the lack of competitiveness of their car, which has not yet been developed, as they focus on getting off to a flying start with the introduction of the new F1 regulations next year.
With the chances of Saturday running in dry weather being minimal due to an ominous weather forecast, Mazepin announced after FP2 that Haas had tried to hide his true pace in an attempt to worry the teams ahead of them with impressive times.
Although the Moscow-born driver started his home weekend well by leaving his teammate Mick Schumacher behind in both sessions, that was as good as it could be as he still stayed 19th out of 20.
F1 TV is offering PlanetF1 readers a 10% discount on monthly and annual subscriptions! To claim this fantastic discount, click the link below and use promo code PLANETF10 at checkout! *
* Offer ends at midnight on September 26th and excludes the Netherlands
“A pretty good day today without any major problems and both the driver and the team did a good job in the two sessions.” # HaasF1 #RussianGP pic.twitter.com/KEa2z5x88C
– Haas F1 Team (@ HaasF1Team) September 24, 2021
“I think we as a team are pursuing the same program between the two cars, but our team had the upper hand in terms of pace,” Mazepin told Formula One.
“As we assume that tomorrow’s sessions will be postponed or even canceled, we had to concentrate and maybe play prank on the other teams in FP1 by using good engine modes and soft tires.
“So we left out the high fuel consumption and focused on the low fuel consumption to simulate qualifying, and unfortunately I think the result was still realistic.
“I was hoping to get maybe a few more cars, but we did our best today and still have to find something for tomorrow.”
In his rookie Formula 1 season, Mazepin is driving at this level in front of a home crowd for the first time and after training in bright sunshine he will hope for something similar on Sunday, even if the Saturday action falls victim to the predicted rainfall.
“I love Sochi, I think Sochi loves me because when we got here yesterday, they said the weather wasn’t going to be very good, but there is nothing better than the sun in Sochi,” said Mazepin, who still like Schumacher did not score a point in its debut campaign.
“Let’s see what awaits us tomorrow – I don’t think there is as much sunshine as there is today.”
The post Nikita Mazepin says Haas’ practice trick in Sochi failed first appeared on monter-une-startup.
