Earlier this month, Nikita Mazepin was announced as the next F1 driver alongside Michael Schumacher's son Mick Schumacher at Haas F1 for the upcoming 2021 season
Nikita Mazepin. File pic
Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin was caught in the eye of a storm after he first posted and then deleted a video of a female passenger being groped in a car. The moment Mazepin shared the video, the pictures and screenshots went viral on social media immediately.
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In a report by Reuters, Hass F1 team, who signed Mazepin for the 2021 Formula One season last week, went on to condemn him for his video online calling it 'abhorrent'.
In a statement from Abu Dhabi, which is the final race of this years F1 season, the F1 team released a statement saying, "Haas F1 team does not condone the behaviour of Nikita Mazepin in the video recently posted on his social media. Additionally, the very fact that the video was posted on social media is also abhorrent to Haas F1 team.
Nikita Mazepin later shared an apology on his official Twitter handle. His apology stated, "I would like to apologise for my recent actions both in terms of my own inappropriate behaviour and the fact that it was posted on social media. I am sorry for the offence I have rightly caused and to the embarrassment, I have brought to Haas F1 team. I have to hold myself to a higher standard as a Formula One driver and I acknowledge I have let myself and many people down. I promise I will learn from this."
— Nikita Mazepin (@nikita_mazepin) December 9, 2020
The Russian racing driver is currently competing in the Formula 2 Championship for the team Hitech Racing. Nikita Mazepin is the son of billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, chairman and main shareholder of Uralchem Integrated Chemicals Company.
Haas F1 team's drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean were scheduled to leave the team following the end of the 2020 F1 season Grosjean suffered a near-fatal accident during the Bahrain GP in November, where his car went up in flames. However, he miraculously survived.
In December 2020, Nikita Mazepin was announced as the next F1 driver alongside F1 legend Michael Schumacher's son Mick Schumacher at Haas F1 for the upcoming 2021 season. While Mick Schumacher won the F2 World Championship, Nikita finished in fifth place.
Nikita Mazepin has previously performed at various motorsports circuits such as the MRF Challenge Formula 2000, Formula Renault 2.0 NEC, Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0, Toyota Racing Series, Formula 3 European Championship, BRDC British Formula 3 Championship, GP3 Series and F3 Asian Championship. His best finish was a second-place which he achieved at the GP3 series in 2018.
In his motorsports career, Nikita Mazepin has 46 starts with 2 wins, 2 poles, six podium finishes and two fastest laps.
It will be interesting to see how Nikita Mazepin partners alongside his F2 rival Mick Schumacher at the upcoming Formula One 2021 season.
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