Nikita Mazepin wasn’t exactly positive about his feelings ahead of his first Monaco Grand Prix in Formula 1 this weekend.
The Russian driver actually has an OK history in Monte Carlo, scoring points in both F2 races during his only previous trip in 2019, something Charles Leclerc has failed to do in his career.
However, so far in F1, Mazepin certainly hasn’t had it easy and while the spins of the first few races eased in Portimao and Barcelona, Haas boss Guenther Steiner had a simple message for both Nikita and Mick Schumacher.
“Stay out of the walls and off the barriers, that’s what we’ll let them know,” the Italian said earlier this week.
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“Once you’re in the barriers in Monaco, your session is lost. You cannot get the car back and it’s normally pretty damaged anyway.
“The challenge is big. It’s a very tight circuit, it’s obviously a street circuit, and you’ve got lots of people watching – everything you don’t want on a race like this.
“On the other side, you do want it though, that’s why we’re doing it.
“There should be little pressure on the drivers there as we know our performance. They should be looking at the race just to gain experience so when they return with a better car they’ll have learned how to deal with Monaco – which is obviously a very special race in the Formula 1 calendar.”
Carrying out the instruction of avoiding the barriers might be easier said than done, with Mazepin acknowledging his problems controlling the rear.
“Being very honest [I’m] not too confident because so far I’ve struggled with the car this year,” he said on Wednesday.
“I haven’t been able to extract the most out of it and the balance was appearing very late in the weekend where the grip was arriving with soft compounds. So therefore I found the car, most of the time, very unpredictable.
“But as you know it’s a 23-race year and we’re quite early on still, so I think getting confident in Monaco will be important, going forward.”
As for his approach, Mazepin plans to “build it up gradually” until qualifying, which is likely to be another challenge given he has impeded a driver at every race so far.
“It’s a driver’s circuit and driving skills, I believe, matter a lot around here,” he continued.
“I’m quite confident going in with myself but of course knowing that there is not much downforce available in the car to fight with our competitors, it’s not going to be easy.”