Given Nikita Mazepin’s record as a Formula 1 rookie this season has been unimpressive, it’s no surprise that the formality of his confirmation as a 2022 Haas driver was met with little excitement.
But if you look past the intra-team controversy in recent races, there are genuine signs of improvement.
Mazepin has yet to outqualify Mick Schumacher on pace. That said, despite Mazepin’s early-season mishaps it’s Schumacher who has twice been unable to participate in qualifying after FP3 crashes in Monaco and Hungary – although in the first half of the season it was only in these circumstances that the Russian looked capable of being ahead.
But at Zandvoort, Mazepin was quicker in two free practice sessions and on the first runs in Q1 but slower on the second run before the controversy of the last runs ruined both their laps.
It was a similar story at Monza. Mazepin was quick in both free practice sessions, one of which took place after qualifying, then faster on the first Q1 runs before setting a near-identical (fractionally slower) time on the second runs. He then locked the rears under braking for the second chicane. That moment meant his time lost in the second sector covered his full deficit to Schumacher at the end of the lap.
You could simply interpret this as Schumacher being able to deliver more pace when it really counts and that might be the case. But there is more to it as earlier in the season Mazepin didn’t look capable of being a serious challenger on either qualifying or race pace. He has clearly improved, but the interesting question is why.
“Our one lap pace has massively improved ever since FP1 in Belgium,” said Mazepin. “And I think we all know what was the change in FP1 in Belgium. It’s good to know that I can trust my feelings.
“And the good thing is that the pace is here now, and we have a long season ahead of us still, so I’m sure that it’s only going to get better because the confidence that I have lost in the beginning of the year when the car wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do, now it’s coming to the truth.”
What changed in Belgium was that Mazepin benefitted from a brand new chassis. After sharing team-mate Schumacher’s monocoque during pre-season testing, he moved into his race chassis for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, which was the one campaigned by Kevin Magnussen last year. But as he said on the latest episode of F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, “It just didn’t feel normal”.
He subsequently switched to a different chassis in Monaco, and this one was heavier as a result of the usual wear and tear and subsequent repairs. He then took the new monocoque at Spa.
“There’s no scientific proof of it but it didn’t feel normal to me and I really couldn’t drive it, the car just snapped at various times and it was very, very difficult to catch it, there was no confidence in it,” said Mazepin.
“So I got in a sequence of very difficult races where we needed time to figure it out and eventually we swapped chassis for the first time in Monaco and I think it was visible that my old chassis isn’t as good as everybody thought, apart from me.
“Then we took that chassis away but we had a third chassis, but I preferred running it because the feeling of it was fine apart from the physical reasons why it is slower.”
So Mazepin claims to have battled first a car that was problematic dynamically, then one that was overweight.
The timing of the change certainly coincides with him showing signs of improved pace, the kind of speed that was expected of a driver who had a decent record in Formula 3 and F2, as well as significant F1 test mileage prior to this season. He has also struggled less with rear-end instability as the season has progressed.
Whatever the reasons, his confidence has certainly improved. And while the Haas team is vague on what problem there may or may not have been with the chassis used by Mazepin earlier in the season, the positive is that the new one has had a positive impact on him.
“He tried all the chassis, then it was decided to build a new chassis for him, and that got ready for Spa,” said team principal Guenther Steiner.
“It gives you more confidence, and that is fine with me. I have no criticism, I’m not going to now debate ‘is it a little bit lighter, is it a little bit heavier, how much is it making difference in time?’
“A lot of this is also confidence and if he’s confident I’m happy with it, but we went around with the chassis quite a bit.”
Regardless of how serious the chassis problems were, or weren’t, Mazepin is now looking more convincing.
Steiner is right that if the driver is confident, they will perform better and that perhaps explains why Mazepin is struggling less.
“Time is never wasted,” said Mazepin of the impact of this on the first half of the season.
“You can’t get any time to drive outside of the race weekend so doing the things I was doing was still important, FP1, FP2 and FP3s and races. Obviously, I don’t come here to learn to just do laps, I come here to beat people and to try and be in front.
“But I had a pace disadvantage before I started a lap because of the weight. So, it’s been a very fresh start. If you look at FP1 in Belgium, it was clear that the pace of both drivers and the set-up is all of a sudden quite similar.
“We asked for the same things and the feedback is quite alike so I think in that respect is very important that we figured that out before 2022 because it’s important to set up a car that works for both drivers.”
Mazepin still has a lot of improving to do before he achieves the baseline level of even a solid F1 driver, but there are now at least hints of progress.
Whether that’s a trend he can build on to be in a position where he can regularly challenge Schumacher will be revealed over the final eight events of the season and Mazepin still has a way to go to be able to do that.
But at least one problem, or excuse, has been eliminated and whether or not the chassis is the sole reason, if Mazepin can build on that – and cut back on the all-too-frequent scrapes with his team-mate, then his poor rookie season could yet turn round.
