Mazepin Names ‘Pretty Sad’ Highlight Despite Strong Monaco F1 Outing

Blue flags are given to drivers when they are about to be lapped by the leaders. It is hard to digest for some drivers especially for backmarkers, such as Haas and Williams. The former’s rookie driver, Nikita Mazepin, opened up about his feelings upon being given the blue flags in Monaco.

The Russian driver had a poor qualifying session on Saturday and didn’t make it past the first round. He started his first F1 Monaco GP in 19th place and struggled to get ahead as the narrow roads provide limited chances to overtake.

It wasn’t long before the Haas driver was shown the blue flags, signaling him to make way for drivers who were leading the race. He finished his race in 17th place with three laps down.

Nikita Mazepin hasn’t seen so many blue flags in his career

As quoted by Autosport, Mazepin said,  “I’m very happy what we’ve done as a team. I’m very happy for my internal group that has worked very hard ever since Barcelona to understand me, and I think this weekend has showed that they understand me, and that’s ultimately the success route to ’22.

“A very positive day. Obviously, see we need to find a lot as a team. I never had so many blue flags in my life. And that’s pretty sad. But I think we’ll get there,” Mazepin concluded.

The Russian looks forward to the race at Baku

After a disappointing race around the streets of Monte Carlo, the rookie hopes for a better result at the upcoming Azerbaijan Grand Prix. While Baku is also a street circuit, it is certainly quite different from the narrow roads of Monaco.

He said, “Well, it’s a completely different challenge. We have high downforce track here, where we’re lacking downforce. I think that we could have a chance there, because the engine is better this year.

“And we don’t have much downforce, and you don’t really need much in that kind of track. It’s going to be my second time, like Monaco, and I’m just looking forward to it,” the Haas driver concluded.

The rookie driver will hope that he can extract the most out of the Ferrari-powered car and aims to score his first F1 points in his rookie season. Will he be able to do that in Baku? We shall soon find out.

Read More: “You Are Having a F*cking Laugh!” – Mazepin Rages at Engineer in Monaco