Why Mazepin burst into tears after the Brazilian F1 qualifying

Mazepin held back tears on Friday night in Brazil after regretting a mistake he believes missed his best qualifying result in F1 to date.

The Russian was the slowest to finish in 20th place after making a mistake on his final lap of Q1. Mazepin was convinced he had the pace to outperform his teammate Mick Schumacher and possibly even challenge George Russell’s Williams.

“What an idiot I am,” said Mazepin after the session on the team radio on his in-lap.

After Mazepin was told by race engineer Dominic Haines not to “beat himself up with it,” Mazepin said, “Why do I try too hard when I don’t have to?”

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After Saturday’s sprint race at Interlagos, Mazepin spoke fully about why he was upset and revealed that a number of internal changes are taking place in the American roster.

Cheer up @nikita_mazepin!

There are even more opportunities this weekend #BrazilGP # F1 @ HaasF1Team pic.twitter.com/Vqam3s7gnd

– Formula 1 (@ F1) November 12, 2021

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“It was mainly due to the mistake in the qualifying lap, where I have been going through a pretty challenging phase in the last few races, not only with the car balance, but also with some internal things in the team. “Said Mazepin.

“That makes the results more important at this particular moment. And when you get as close to the finish as I felt for a great lap in the car we currently have.

“I work pretty hard with various specialists to make sure my emotions are behaving correctly in the car, but if you only have four minutes after getting out of the car before you speak to journalists who will ask you questions that bring those memories back, and she knows what could have been, it just feels sad.

“There’s not much in my life other than racing. In fact there is nothing. So I put myself on the line and get angry, which is natural when things don’t go well. “

In the days following last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, footage appeared on social media that appeared to show Mazepin confronting bouncers during one night.

Before the weekend in Brazil, Mazepin said he was only resolving a situation after one of his team members was denied entry to a farewell party for one of his outgoing engineers.

Mazepin said he understands why some of his teams are choosing to prioritize family life for the next season in the face of the demands of an ever-expanding F1 calendar with a record 23 races.

“Well, as you know the team mixes up, people have come and gone for the last couple of races and I know that not everyone who’s around me this year plans to stay for next year,” he added .

“I enjoy the environment I’m in, I’ve been surrounded by some very good honest people, my engineer moved on to another team last week and he’s not the only one, unfortunately. That’s the challenge.

“Good people in any industry are something you want to hold onto. Unfortunately, personal relationships are not something that can make people stick with in the sport, they are often financial, and as you know, life goes on, people get families, the calendar just keeps getting bigger.

“Unfortunately, they are right in this regard that families should come first. Sport is all I do in my life, but I’m only 22 and I think if I was 10 years older and had kids I would make decisions similar to them. “