Nikita Mazepin

Nikita Mazepin (Ники́та Дми́триевич Мазе́пин in Russian; born 2 March 1999 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian racing driver, who competes in the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship with Hitech Grand Prix. Backed by his wealthy father Dmitry Mazepin, Mazepin made his F2 debut in 2019, having previously raced in the GP3 Series.

Mazepin's debut season in F2 came with ART Grand Prix, with the Russian racer partnered by Nyck de Vries, who went on to claim the title. Mazepin himself would have a fairly quiet rookie season, scoring a handful of single points finishes to claim eighteenth in the Championship.

Towards the end of the 2020 season it was announced that Mazepin had secured a seat in Formula One for the 2021 season, joining the Haas F1 Team to partner Mick Schumacher.

Background
Mazepin began his career in karting in 2011, before stepping up to his first racing series in 2015, joining the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup. The Russian youngster also competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC and the Toyota Racing Series. Mazepin performed fairly anonymously in all three series, but earned enough attention to secure a seat in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, as well as a second season in Eurocup.

Formula Dream
Mazepin had another fairly low-key season in European F3, although he did pick up a win in the BRDC Formula 3 Championship after being offered a couple of one-off drives. Furthermore, Mazepin would secure a testing role with the Force India team in Formula One, a deal which was renewed into 2017. The Russian would also compete in another full season of European F3 that year, claiming three podiums en-route to tenth in the Championship.

2018 saw Mazepin move to the GP3 Series, where the Russian finally showed his talents with the title challenging ART Grand Prix squad. Indeed, Mazepin would ultimately finish second to Anthoine Hubert after a season long battle, securing four wins across the eighteen races.

Formula Two History
Mazepin would test for ART Grand Prix during the 2018 Yas Marina Test at the end of the 2018 season, finishing in the middle of the pack across all three days. That duly lead to Mazepin securing a seat in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the 2019 season with ART, partnering Nyck de Vries. Mazepin had a fairly quiet debut, finishing at the back of the field in the season opening Bahrain Feature Race, before improving to thirteenth in the Sprint.

The Russian racer would score his first points of the campaign at the 2019 Baku Feature Race, a result which left him on pole position for the corresponding Sprint. However, Mazepin's hopes of a maiden win would be scuppered when Sean Gelael streaked past him at the start, before his podium aspirations were ended in a three-way collision with Luca Ghiotto and Jordan King. Mazepin duly returned to the back of the field in the two Barcelona races, before scoring a point apiece in both of the Monaco races.

That, however, would be the last points Mazepin scored for four months, with Mazepin failing to threaten the points at all as teammate de Vries broke clear in the title fight. Indeed, on the day that de Vries won the title at the 2019 Sochi Feature Race, Mazepin finally returned to the points with eighth place, although he would once again crash out in the Sprint having started from pole. The Russian rookie rounded out the season with a tenth place and a seventeenth at the season finale in Abu Dhabi, leaving him with eleven points and eighteenth in the Championship.

Hitech Heroics?: 2020
Mazepin signed for the Hitech Grand Prix squad for the 2020 F2 Championship, an outfit which had competed in the GP2 Series in 2005 through 2007 operating the Piquet GP team. Mazepin was partnered by F2 veteran Ghiotto for the full campaign, with his father Dmitry reportedly investing in the team.

Post Formula Two Career
Mazepin was registered as a test driver for the Force India Formula One team between 2016 and 2018, before leaving the team after their take over by Lawrence Stroll. For 2019 Mazepin would secure a testing role with Mercedes squad, taking part in the 2019 Barcelona in-season test. On 1 December 2020 it was announced that Mazepin had secured a full season seat in F1 for the 2021, pending his acquisition of an FIA Super Licence, with the Russian racer joining the Haas F1 Team.

Full Formula Two Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in Formula Two in statistical form.

Formula Two Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their F2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full Formula Two record.


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