A recent online video showed Nikita Mazepin in a ‘fight’ with security in a club. Now the Haas driver refutes claims.
Nikita Mazepin denied claims that he was ‘kicked out’ of a club in Mexico after a video of him engaging in a heated confrontation with club security surfaced online.
The Haas driver maintains that he merely spoke with the security staff after a member of his team was not allowed entry into the venue. He even said that they ended up staying there for ‘a few hours’.
“The situation from my side is very clear, and definitely nobody was kicked out,” said the Russian driver. “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. So we stayed for a few hours.”
Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner addressed the situation and said that we were made aware of the video but had not yet spoken to the driver in question about it.
“I think it was more like an argument with one of the security guys than a fight. Normally when we fight in South Tyrol it looks different,” added the Team Principal with his signature tongue-in-cheek humour.
“So this was more like a verbal argument about something. I haven’t spoke with him yet because I haven’t seen him but I think this was more like he couldn’t get access somewhere and just tried to make his point.”
Steiner feels the reputation of Nikita Mazepin precedes him
This is not the first time Mazepin has caught flak for his behaviour off-track. He was once banned from an F3 race after punching fellow driver Callum Ilott in 2016. His most infamous incident is the video of him groping a woman in a car in December of 2020.
Steiner is of the opinion that all of the previous incidents involving Mazepin have made him a focus of attention.
“It’s like first of all, everything what he’s done, whoever does it, it’s immediately filmed from somebody,” said Guenther. “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.”
The video of Mazepin in the club showed him and several team members without a mask in the club. This too has drawn quite a bit of criticism especially with the efforts F1 has been making to keep the paddock free of COVID-19.
Speaking on this aspect of the video and if they were permitted to roam without masks, Steiner said: “I think so. It’s difficult with the Covid how it is now to decide what is right and what is wrong.
“But this goes beyond motorsport and what we should be talking here, in my opinion. Everyone’s got an opinion about it and is entitled to it. I think at some stage we just need to try to live a normal life, if people are vaccinated. And he is vaccinated, by the way.”
Mazepin would be looking forward to the race weekend in Brazil to get his mind off his off-track ‘antics’ and focus on the race.
