Nikita Mazepin

Biography of F1 driver Nikita Mazepin

The fourth Russian to compete in F1 after Vitaly Petrov, Sergey Sirotkin and Daniil Kvyat, Nikita Mazepin's arrival on the grid is not only down to the money he brings along with him.

After an uninspired first season in F2 in 2019, Mazepin followed it up with an impressive second campaign. With six podium finishes and two victories, the youngster finished fifth in the standings.

That was enough for Haas, who signed him to partner Mick Schumacher for the 2021 F1 season. Now looking to make a name for himself amongst the best drivers in the world, here's everything you need to know about Nikita Mazepin.

Mazepin's early career

Mazepin started his karting career in 2011 and quickly made his way up the ranks, reaching the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in the KF3 class in just his second year. He finished fourth in the KFJ category of the WSK Super Master Series in 2013, and followed that up with a second-place finish behind Lando Norris in the Karting World Championship the next year.

Mazepin moved up the FIA Formula 3 European Championship for Hitech Grand Prix in 2016, scoring points in four races and finishing 20th in the championship. However, he ran into some controversy after being blocked by Callum Ilott during a session. The move didn't sit well with Mazepin, who was banned from the first race at the Hungaroring after hitting Ilott in the face.

Mazepin was retained by Hitech for the following season, showing significant improvement by finishing on the podium three times and scoring 108 points. As a result, he moved to GP3 in 2018, racing for ART Grand Prix alongside Ilott, Jake Hughes and Anthonie Hubert. Although Mazepin finished the season with the most wins (four), he was 16 points behind Hubert in the fight for the title, though his efforts helped ART Grand Prix take the teams' championship.

Progressing to Formula 2

Another step up followed in 2019 as Mazepin, still with ART Grand Prix, partnered Nyck de Vries in Formula 2. His most notable moment came in the Sprint Race on home soil at the Sochi Autodrom, when he caused a serious accident with Nobuharu Matsushita. While De Vries ended up winning the championship, Mazepin had to settle for an 18th place finish in the standings with just 11 points.

A change of teams followed for the 2020 season as Mazepin moved to Hitech Grand Prix to partner Luca Ghiotto. He took his first podium by finishing second at the Hungaroring, and improved on that by claiming his first victory at Silverstone. He added a second victory by taking the chequered flag in the Feature Race at Mugello.

Mazepin finished the season fifth in the standings, 51 points back on champion and future teammate Schumacher.

F1 test driver and Haas move

Mazepin's first F1 outing came in 2016 when he was named test driver for Force India, making his in-car debut at Silverstone. He held onto that role for the next two seasons, completing 100 laps at the Hungaroring over the course of two test sessions in 2017 and 2018. He even took part in a test for Mercedes at Barcelona in 2019, topping the timesheet.

After a strong showing in Formula 2 in 2020, Mazepin signed a multi-year deal to race for Haas alongside Schumacher. Mazepin is racing under a neutral flag in 2021 and 2022 after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency ban on Russians competing at World Championships.