Buxton Shares Mazepin Exchange After Strong F1 Weekend in Monaco

Nikita Mazepin endured yet another weekend at the back of the grid, finishing 17th at the Monaco Grand Prix. Although the Russian has had his fair share of critics since his debut, his weekend wasn’t as theatrical as his previous weekends.

On his weekly show, “This Week,” Will Buxton talked about his exchange with Mazepin on Sunday night. He spoke about the rookie’s weekend, and how he differed from the other newbies in Monaco.

Nikita Mazepin admits everyone expected him to crash in Monaco

Although Mazepin finished P17, he finished ahead of his teammate, Mick Schumacher, for the first time this season. Heading into Monaco, the Russian had not completed a single on-track overtake. However, despite Monaco being a very narrow circuit, Mazepin did not crash throughout the weekend.

Buxton discussed meeting Mazepin just before he was about to leave the circuit on his weekly YouTube show. He asked Mazepin to sum up his weekend, to which the Russian laid out people’s expectations before the weekend started.

Buxton said, “I saw him as he was leaving the circuit on Sunday night, and I said, “How did you feel your weekend went?” And he went, ‘Well, I think everyone expected me to put it in the wall.'”

The journalist pointed out that Mazepin was right in this vein, but disappointed all those doubters. “Fans, media, critics, everyone expected Mazepin to have dinged his car at some point over the weekend.

“And yet, he was the only F1 rookie who didn’t put it in the wall.”

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Mazepin had a solid weekend: Buxton

Despite finishing three laps behind the race leader, Max Verstappen, Buxton believes Mazepin had a solid weekend. He kept his car out of the wall, which none of the rookies could do.

In fact, his teammate, Mick Schumacher, did considerable damage to his car with his crash on Saturday. Buxton said, “Latifi, his first year racing F1 in Monaco, let’s not forget, put it in the wall. Schumacher, his teammate, put it in the wall. Did what the team believe to be over half a million dollars’ worth of damage. Tsunoda put it in the wall.

“Mazepin kept his nose clean.

“He had a solid weekend and, yeah, it’s all you can ask for at the moment really, from him.”

Although Haas isn’t the best car on the grid, Mazepin’s outing in Monaco had more positives than negatives. The 21-year-old would look to build on this performance for the rest of the season, starting with the next race in Baku.