“New circuits obviously bring new challenges”– Haas not having a simulator makes it an uphill task for the rookies to perform.
Nikita Mazepin has started his Formula 1 career with an underwhelming set of performances, where he even struggles to compete against his teammate Mick Schumacher.
He blames the absence of a simulator in Haas for his poor performances; whilst he earlier claimed that Schumacher gets to do the sim sessions with Ferrari, he often remains clueless with no real-life experience on the tracks he never visited.
“Well new circuits obviously bring new challenges and being one of the only teams on the grid that doesn’t have a simulator, being a rookie driver going to those will be a bigger challenge added on top of my usual jobs,” said Mazepin.
“I think getting settled in F1 is much easier at tracks that you know as a kid. I tested for the first time at Monza in 2015 so I know this place like the back of my garden.”
“If you go to Mexico or Brazil, F1 is a very challenging sport itself and if you add a new track with new bumps, new track surfaces etcetera, it is going to be tougher.”
New chassis injecting pace
Mazepin was given a new chassis during the Belgian Grand Prix, and the Russian driver claims that it now allows taking his car to the limits, which was not the case with the previous chassis.
“I think our one-lap pace has massively improved ever since I drove in FP1 in Belgium and I think we all know what the change was in FP1 in Belgium,” he explained.
“It is good to know I can trust my feelings and the good thing is the pace is there now and we have a long season ahead of us still so I am sure it is only going to get better because the confidence I have lost at the beginning of the year when the car wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do, now it is coming to the truth.”
