Force India’s 17-year-old development driver Nikita Mazepin will make his debut at the wheel of the team’s car in next week’s test at Silverstone.
Mazepin, who has driven the team’s simulator and attended several race weekends with them, will drive on both days of the test which follows the British Grand Prix.
Mazepin said the test “will be the biggest moment of my career and it’s something I’ve been working towards my whole life”.
“It’s been a few months since I joined the team and I feel ready for this opportunity. I know it’s an important test for the team and they will be counting on me to do a good job, so I will work hard to make sure we achieve our objectives.”
Force India’s team principal Vijay Mallya said Mazepin “has shown a great level of technical understanding to go with his driving skills”.
Mazepin, who has three superlicence points, currently lies 20th in the European Formula Three championship having scored a single point. He was banned from one race at the Hungaroring after punching rival Callum Ilott.
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Uzair Syed (@ultimateuzair)
4th July 2016, 11:22
This guy is a nasty piece of work.
badger (@badger)
4th July 2016, 11:45
He sure is http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123917
Spawinte (@spawinte)
4th July 2016, 11:45
He’s Russian. Just to save people googling it like I had to.
Leo B
4th July 2016, 11:54
…and I thought he was british comedian
http://cdn07.dayviews.com/22/_u7/_u8/_u9/_u7/_u2/u789725/94174_1197572650.jpg
Robbie (@robbie)
4th July 2016, 14:13
Lol beat me to it.
Manox (@marussi)
4th July 2016, 14:33
Haha! little britain is awesome!
Drew
4th July 2016, 12:51
Me too. And so?
Neil (@neilosjames)
4th July 2016, 12:02
Mazepin’s 2016 F3 season so far…
Punches landed: At least 2 or 3
Points scored: 1
Pretty much a male Carmen Jorda.
Hans (@hanswes)
4th July 2016, 14:03
@neilosjames I guess that, in that case most of us would prefer Jorda.
Kringle
4th July 2016, 12:09
Mr Marzipan looks race fit…
Deej92 (@deej92)
4th July 2016, 14:24
Haha very apt name. Looks like he’s had too much of it.
bull mello (@bullmello)
4th July 2016, 22:03
“Mr Marzipan” – Good one!
Looks as sweet as marzipan, but has a kick like a mule…
zimkazimka (@zimkazimka)
4th July 2016, 12:28
Looks like the dude’s dad put him in the wrong sport.
Traverse (@hellotraverse)
4th July 2016, 16:05
When did Matt Lucas become a racing driver?
John H (@john-h)
4th July 2016, 19:00
Same day the hair loss treatment kicked in it appears.
Gary
4th July 2016, 17:27
“Mazepin, … , currently lies 20th in the European Formula Three championship having scored a single point. He was banned from one race at the Hungaroring after punching rival Callum Ilott.”
Well, that’s quite a racing resume, not surprised he’s getting a F1 test given his advancing age of 17 years.
Mallya must be unable to provide funding for the team so they are resorting to Friday FP1s at $250,000 per pop.
Jazz
5th July 2016, 12:09
Exactly my thoughts.
Rich dad buying a F1 drive for his spoiled brat so that he can show it off to his school friends. Its a shame that F1 has been reduced to such levels.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
4th July 2016, 18:54
I’d complain, but as long as F1 money distribution is so unfair, I have to accept that to keep Force India, a team I really like, in the sport, things like this are necessary.
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
5th July 2016, 23:28
+1
Dan (@danb)
5th July 2016, 9:30
I’ve booked a hotel to attend both days of this test, hoping to see some race drivers in action. So far I don’t recognise any of the names announced, and I’m beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t have bothered…
Neil (@neilosjames)
5th July 2016, 11:55
Bit of a lottery, isn’t it… we know two of the four in-season days (Silverstone + Catalunya) have to be given to youngsters, but we don’t get any clues which they’ll be until the middle of May. And even then, some teams might use kids for more than two…
Dan (@danb)
5th July 2016, 14:12
Certainly is. I was just going from past experience though – in 2008 I saw every driver on the grid across the two days, and in 2014 the majority of them were race drivers, just a couple of test/reserve drivers.
Who do we know of so far?
I think it was said on Ch4 on Sunday that Mercedes will use Pascal Wehrlein, Force India will be running with Nikita Mazepin and Toro Rosso will be Sergio Sette Camara.
I read on Autosport forums that each race driver is only allowed one of the four days, so on the basis that’s true, we can rule out the following names that all tested at Barcelona in May:
Vettel, Rosberg, Button, Grosjean, Wehrlein (in the Manor), Ricciardo, Verstappen, Gutierrez, Kyvat, Magnussen and Massa.
Fingers crossed for Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton and Bottas then.
I would have liked to have seen Jenson at the wheel again, 2008 was the last time.