Nikita Mazepin has dismissed any fears of earning a potential race ban in Formula 1 despite his reputation for hard driving.
The new Haas driver ended his final year in F2 with 11 penalty points on his superlicence last year, one short of the number that triggers an automatic ban.
Four of those points came in the final race weekend in Bahrain, after he had been announced at the American team for 2021, with his driving standards even catching the attention of some F1 drivers.
All 11 of those points are wiped upon his step up to F1 this season, however, and Mazepin is confident that the scenario of facing a race ban will not be repeated again.
“It’s not something that I fear because I’m confident that’s not going to happen,” he told Motorsport.com.
“I take a lot of time to go through the regulations, study them and understand them, understand where that fine line is.”
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At the same time, however, the Russian admits he will still be aggressive in his approach.
“Like one of the great racing drivers (Ayrton Senna) said, if you don’t go for a gap that exists, you’re no longer a racing driver, and I think this is applicable to every driver in F1,” he said.
“To get there you do need to be willing to take every opportunity because if you will not be doing it, somebody else will. You obviously sometimes overstep that line.
“It’s not up to me to decide. It’s the stewards’ decision. As I said, everyone’s got a job in F1 and I’m not a steward. So I respect their correct decisions on some of those moves.
“But I’m confident to say that you won’t be seeing that in F1 in the coming years because there’s a very different driving style needed when you are fighting for a championship and potentially fighting further back down the grid.”