Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin is having a tough first season in Formula 1, with the Russian rookie currently without any points in this year's drivers championship.
In part that's because the team has lacked the resources to develop this year's car and stay in touch with their rivals. Mazepin himself has also attracted criticism from his peers for his tough on-track driving.
The 22-year-old hopes to be able to show what he can really achieve behind the wheel - even if he has to move to a "better" team to do so. He insists that he's not trying to cultivate a "bad boy" reputation in the sport in the meantime.
“Absolutely not," he replied when asked about it by Auto Motor und Sport in an interview this week. “Maybe sometimes it comes across that way when you’re on the track fighting against much faster cars with inferior material.
“You try everything to get a point for the team somehow," he continued. "Sometimes I make mistakes, I analyse that and try to do better next time. But I certainly don’t try to be the bad boy on purpose.”
Mazepin insisted that he was able to brush off intense criticism that's raged ever since a controversial social media at the end of 2020 whipped up a 'say no to Mazepin' campaign before hed even arrived at Haas.
"I don’t feel it at all," he stated. “Of course, there was justified criticism of what happened before the season. Some people already had their preconceived opinions, but you have to stay true to yourself.
“You always learn and develop," he added. "I was just a teenager. I’m here in this paddock to make my team and my father proud.”
There had been suggestions that being in a car at the back of the grid would allow Mazepin to learn and hone his craft in F1 out of the spotlight, but that hasn't proved to be the case.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m not in the limelight,” he said. “It’s rather the opposite.
“When you come to F1, you can’t choose your car anyway," he continued. “For me, it was important to reach Formula 1 in the first place. Hopefully I can help to make the team better.
“And maybe I’ll get an offer from a better team at some point," he added.
That won't come any time soon, however, with Mazepin already re-signed with Haas for the 2021 season where he will remain alongside current team mate Mick Schumacher.
A fellow rookie, Schumacher is also without any points in this year's championship but has a best finish of 12th place in the Hungarian GP compared with 14th for Mazepin in Azerbaijan.
Mazepin was last again in the United States GP and a minute and a half behind Schumacher by the chequered flag. As well as issues with his head rest on the first lap, he complained about his feet getting uncomfortably hot during the race.
"We will always try to make it better," team boss Guenther Steiner told the media afterwards. "But it seems it happens only to him.
"This is the same chassis as last year, so we never had an issue with it. I haven't specifically asked Mick about it, but he never complained about it and for sure he would.
"We need to look into why he gets hot, we need to do something. Maybe the next step is to do something on the boots. There was nothing broken or anything and it isn't the first time that he complains about that one."
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