Michael Masi has explained the circumstances that led to the Russian driver being given a time penalty and subsequent penalty point. Mazepin was being lapped by race leader Sergio Perez, when he blocked the Red Bull driver through Turn 3 as the Mexican attempted to pass. Having been shown multiple blue flags to release the leader, Mazepin was given a five second time penalty and a penalty point as well. Masi, the FIA's Race Director, said that the penalty was given as Mazepin almost caused a collision by not yielding quick enough. "So, with Nikita's penalty, it wasn't so much the number of blue flags that were ignored," Masi explained to RacingNews365. "It was more so the incident, which was shown on the broadcast with Sergio at Turn 3 and the near collision that was caused under blue flags. "So it wasn't actually for the number of panels, it was more for the not effectively getting out of the way at the earliest opportunity and nearly half causing an incident as a result." Mazepin was given his first F1 superlicence penalty point as a result of the incident, but his finishing position wasn't affected by the penalty. He finished a minute behind the field, and summed his race up as 'lonely'. "It was never gonna be easy," Mazepin told select members of the media, including RacingNews365. "I never expected it to be easy, but it was a little bit too lonely in the end so difficult to sum it up in a positive way."
Most read
