Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsForce India

Force India will use Mazepin 'extensively' - Mallya

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Force India will use new development driver Nikita Mazepin "extensively", says team principal Vijay Mallya.

The 16-year-old Russian has been signed as a development driver for what Force India says is "the beginning of a long-term association with the team". While Mazepin only has one year of single seater racing in Formula Renault 2.0 under his belt so far, Mallya says the team plans to give him a significant workload.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for Nikita to begin his Formula One apprenticeship and become fully embedded inside our team," Mallya said. "We have a strong track record of identifying and nurturing young talent and it is clear that Nikita is already a very capable and determined racer.

"2016 will provide the perfect opportunity to showcase his abilities and develop the skills needed to become a Formula One driver. We plan to use him extensively on our new simulator and he will also support our in-season testing programme, which will play an important role in the development of the VJM09.

"It’s also exciting for the team to begin working with a young Russian driver given the success of the Russian Grand Prix in recent years. It’s a market with huge potential for Formula One and the emergence of young talents, such as Nikita, will ensure interest in the sport continues to grow rapidly.”

Force India announced Alfonso Celis as another development driver at the end of 2015, with the Mexican taking part in the Pirelli tyre test after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.