Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner believes that Nikita Mazepin's reputation is "played up" after a video on social media seemingly showed the Russian getting kicked out of a nightclub. Mazepin has denied the claims and Steiner says he is yet to discuss the alleged incident with his driver. "I was made aware of the video. I think it was more like an argument with one of the security guys than a fight," Steiner told media, including RacingNews365.com . "Normally when we fight in South Tyrol (Steiner's place of birth) it looks different. This was more like a verbal argument about something. "I haven't spoken with him yet because I haven't seen him but I think it was more like he couldn't get access somewhere and just tried to make his point." Mazepin has been criticised for his discipline on and off the track during his racing career. He punched Callum Ilott in 2016 in the Formula 3 paddock, leading to a race ban. At the end of 2020, a video emerged of him groping a woman in a car. Steiner feels that Mazepin's past incidents have not made it easier for him when it comes to building his reputation in F1. "First of all, everything [that] he's done, whoever does it, it's immediately filmed from somebody," said Steiner. "Nikita, I think he has got a reputation and it's even played up, I would say. So it isn't made any easier for him."
Mazepin wasn't kicked out of nightclub
Mazepin has explained what happened earlier this week in Mexico when he was allegedly kicked out of the nightclub. He says "nobody was kicked out" and he had a "very good party" with his Haas team. "The situation from my side is very clear and definitely nobody was kicked out," Mazepin added. "I was upset because one of my engineers was leaving. So I invited everybody from the team to see me and one of the members wasn't let in, unfortunately. "I cleared it up. It took about three, four minutes and everybody was in and actually it was a very good party. We stayed for quite a few hours."
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