SOCHI, September 24. /TASS, Andrey Kartashov/. Russian FIA Formula One driver Nikita Mazepin, who is racing for Haas F1 Team, told TASS on Friday it was not important for him at the moment to outrace his German teammate Mick Schumacher.

Russian auto racer Nikita Mazepin, 22, signed a multi-year contract with Haas F1 Team in December 2020 becoming Russia’s fourth racer to compete in the world’s most prestigious auto racing series, FIA Formula 1. Following 14 Grands Prix this year, his teammate Schumacher is ranked 19th, with Mazepin dead last in the drivers’ competition taking 21st place. Both drivers have so far earned zero points.

"I believe that it is not important at all [to outrace Schumacher] at this stage," Mazepin said in an interview with TASS. "I need to risk, test new cars various tunings. Our experiments do not always end up with positive results, but this is what I need to gain enough experience for the next year."

FIA Formula One Team Haas announced on Thursday that it kept on board racers Nikita Mazepin of Russia and Mick Schumacher of Germany for the 2022 FIA F1 World Championship.

Future prospects

Touching upon this season, Mazepin said that what’s most important right now is to gain experience.

"This is a relatively difficult season," he continued. "After the [pre-season] tests in Bahrain we had certain expectations, but the replacement of the [car’s] chassis before the start of the championship spoiled our game because we had to endure several tough [racing] weekends to understand that we needed changes and that the car was not running as we had anticipated."

"In any case, the main [thing] this year is to gain experience and I am satisfied with my ratings, and with the progress that I’ve achieved over the course of the recent racing weekends. Besides, I’m glad that everything is going the way I want," Mazepin said, on the eve of the 2021 FIA F1 Russia Grand Prix, scheduled for the racing track at Russia’s resort city of Sochi on September 24-26.

"It is very hard to race against our competitors, when they are upgrading their cars," the auto racer said. "Sometimes, when you need to achieve great success, you have to swim against the stream. This is what we do now."

This racing weekend at the Sochi Autodrom track will be a maiden home race for Mazepin, and his car is painted in the colors of the Russian flag.

The Team Haas fleet of racing cars is decked out in the colors of the Russian flag since the title sponsor of the US team is Russia’s major fertilizer company Uralkali. The company’s main owner is Dmitry Mazepin and his son Nikita Mazepin is racing this year for Team Haas alongside Germany’s Mick Schumacher, who is the son of F1 seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher.

The Sochi Autodrom is the only race track in Russia that hosts Formula 1 races. Located in Olympic Park, the venue of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, the 5,848-meter long racing circuit in the Black Sea coastal area has already successfully hosted seven F1 Grand Prix races.

In late 2014, the Sochi Autodrom was awarded a trophy by Formula One for best race track of the year. The Race Promoters' Trophy is a rotating award, engraved with the names of other top F1 tracks going back to 1975.