F1

LEWIS HAMILTON is set to once again be Formula One’s top earner on a truly staggering £40million pay packet.
Mercedes star Hamilton – who tops the Sunday Times’ Sports Rich List – will earn well over twice as much as every other driver when he agrees to a contract for 2021.

Sebastian Vettel was the second highest-earner in 2020 but has traded his £37m Ferrari pay packet for a more modest £12.5m at Aston Martin.
Returning legend Fernando Alonso is set to pocket £15m when he gets back into the Renault, known as Alpine in 2021.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is on a £14m contract that will likely dwarf new team-mate Sergio Perez’s deal.
The Mexican’s 2021 salary is unknown but expected to be around the £2.5m he earned at Racing Point last year.

Daniel Ricciardo comes in at fifth on a £12.5m deal with McLaren, a reduction on his £16m Renault wage with a heavily bonus-based agreement at his new home.
Charles Leclerc’s £8m Ferrari salary puts him sixth, ahead of Valtteri Bottas at world champions Merc on £6.5m.
Scuderia newboy Carlos Sainz is one of few drivers to earn a pay rise ahead of 2021 with a bump up to £5.3m as he swaps Ferrari from McLaren.
Kimi Raikkonen, Lance Stroll and Esteban Ocon are the only other drivers thought to earn seven-figure sums.

Lewis Hamilton just needs to put pen to paper on his £40million deal to race in 2021Credit: PA:Press Association

The new season will see a handful of rookies enter the paddock in Mick Schumacher, Nikita Mazepin and Yuki Tsunoda.
Racing gets underway in Bahrain on March 28 with a three-day test set for the Sakhir circuit from March 2-4.
The Australian Grand Prix has been put back to November with Imola remaining on the calendar after a successful return to the historic venue in 2020.
Saudi Arabia and the Dutch circuit Zandvoort are on the calendar, with no place for the highly anticipated Vietnamese GO.

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HE has not even raced in Formula One yet but already there are people calling for him to be banned.
He’s been labelled “a lout” by Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz and the hashtag #SAYNOTOMAZEPIN is regularly trending on Twitter.

Mazepin has not even made his debut in F1 yet

Yet some want him banned alreadyCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The rich kid will be driving for Haas Credit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin

Not the impact that 21-year-old Nikita Mazepin – or indeed his Haas team – would have expected or wanted back in December when he was confirmed as their driver for 2021.
Mazepin is a slightly-better-than-average racer who finished last season in fifth place in the Formula 2 championship.
But the question mark over the Russian’s talent is only a minor worry compared to his behaviour, which is the cause for concern and the social media outcry.
Mazepin is no stranger to controversy, yet when he posted a video on social media groping a female’s chest, people really took notice.

The incident occurred shortly after he was confirmed by Haas and there was a subsequent apology and the video deleted.
More recently, he made disparaging remarks about his new teammate Mick Schumacher and posted a stupid message wishing Covid a ‘happy birthday’.
He has also previously been banned from racing for punching Callum Ilott in the face after the Brit spoiled one of his flying laps during a practice session.

Mazepin likes to show off his lavish lifestyle

He has over 100,000 followers on InstagramCredit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin

He came fifth in Formula 2 last yearCredit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin
Let’s be honest here, had some other racing driver displayed such behaviour, he’d not come close to an F1 seat.

The difference here is Mazepin’s dad, Dmitry, is a billionaire and that sort of backing is likely to have caught Haas’s attention.
So, given Haas’s decision to pick – and stick – with Mazepin, what can they do to ensure he changes his attitude?
There is education, something that Haas boss Gunther Steiner said they would do, saying: “We need to work on it to give him the best opportunity to learn from this, concentrate on his racing and ensure he doesn’t do it anymore.
“He knows that. He realises that what was done wasn’t right. I’m not the type of guy who kicks in the face someone who’s on their knees – that’s not right.
“This is a young man who needs to grow up and for sure we have dealt with this and we will continue to deal with this.
“We are not saying that this was OK and letting him get away with it. We are educating him and will keep on educating him for his future.”
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Mazepin sparked serious controversy when he posted a video of him groping a woman – he later apologisedCredit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin

The 21-year-old is backed by his billionaire fatherCredit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin

The acid test will be if he again causes controversy, for the fear is his card has already been marked.
We have seen how drivers in F1 quickly earn a name for themselves for their actions both on and off track and that is sometimes hard to shake.
Take outgoing Haas driver Romain Grosjean, once labelled a “first lap nutcase” by Mark Webber, it stuck with the Frenchman during his time in F1.
Will Mazepin’s “lout” tag remain now for the rest of his racing career?
Ultimately, it is now up to him to convince the world otherwise, and one wonders if he will or indeed if he actually cares.
Until now, there appears little remorse, yet then again, he has not been presented to the world’s press to deliver a heartfelt apology.

The concern is that, given his lengthy misdemeanour sheet, Mazepin will move on unopposed and without changing his ways.
In which case the only way he will listen is if F1 or the FIA speak up and call him to account.
Only then is he likely to act and for that, the sport and the governing body need to find some balls.

Mazepin will partner Mick Schumacher for Haas in the upcoming seasonCredit: Instagram @nikita_mazepin

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ROMAIN GROSJEAN has shown off the gruesome damage done to his hands after his bandages were finally removed six weeks after his horror smash.
The former Haas racer, 34, crashed at 140mph at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Grosjean has shown off the damage done to his hands after his horror crash at last November’s Bahrain GPCredit: Instagram @grosjeanromain

Grosjean enjoyed a cuddle with pet cat Petrus as he shared pictures of his burns on InstagramCredit: Instagram @grosjeanromain

Grosjean was trapped in his flaming Haas for 28 seconds after his crash in BahrainCredit: Splash News

Grosjean’s car split in two and instantly burst into flames.
The Swiss-Frenchman was only saved by his Haas’ halo device and his racing suit, new for the 2020 season and designed to withstand flames for 20 seconds.
Grosjean confessed he ‘saw death coming’ after smashing through the safety barriers.
But he has shown off his miraculous recovery on Instagram, sharing an image of himself enjoying a cuddle with pet cat Petrus.

So painful-looking are his injuries even to this days, Grosjean even included a warning to followers before swiping through his latest upload.
Grosjean captioned the post: “My hands are back and Petrus isn’t too unhappy about it!
“It’s not yet pretty so please don’t swipe right if you don’t feel like it.”
Shortly after his crash, Grosjean described his escape as a ‘second birth’.

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Grosjean’s Haas was torn into two pieces after smashing through the barrierCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Grosjean miraculously survived with only nasty burns to his handsCredit: Splash News

He said: “To come out of the flames that day is something that will mark my life forever.
“I have a lot of people who have shown me love and it has touched me a lot, and at times I get a bit teary-eyed.
“I don’t know if the word miracle exists or if it can be used, but in any case I would say it wasn’t my time [to die].
“It felt much longer than 28 seconds. I saw my visor turning all orange, I saw the flames on the left side of the car.
“I thought about a lot of things, including Niki Lauda, and I thought that it wasn’t possible to end up like that, not now. I couldn’t finish my story in Formula One like that.
“And then, for my children, I told myself that I had to get out. I put my hands in the fire, so I clearly felt it burning on the chassis.
“I got out, then I felt someone pulling on the suit, so I knew I was out.”
Grosjean has three children – Sacha, Simon and daughter Camile – with wife Marion.
And he revealed his desire to get back to his family helped him escape.
Grosjean confessed: “I was more afraid for my relatives, my children in the first place, but also my father and my mother.
“I was not really afraid for myself. I saw death coming, I had no other option but to get out of there.”

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NIKITA MAZEPIN needs to “grow up” according to Haas boss Guenther Steiner.
Last month the controversial Russian driver posted a video on social media that showed a woman being groped in the back of a car.

Nikita Mazepin has apologised for his actionsCredit: Getty Images – Getty

The footage was deleted and Mazepin subsequently apologised but there has been a considerable campaign to get the 21-year-old kicked out of the sport.
There have been calls for Haas, F1 and the sport’s governing body to take a stand against Mazepin, who was once banned for punching British racing driver, Callum Ilott.
And Haas team principal Steiner admitted that the case is not yet closed, as they weigh up how to handle Mazepin, whose father is a tycoon and provides lucrative financial backing.
Steiner said: “He did something he shouldn’t have done, and we were very outspoken about what we thought about it at the time.

“He’s apologised and he knows it was wrong, and now we need to work on it to give him the best opportunity to learn from this, concentrate on his racing and ensure he doesn’t do it anymore.
“He knows that. He realises that what was done wasn’t right. I’m not the type of guy who kicks in the face someone who’s on their knees – that’s not right.
“This is a young man who needs to grow up and for sure we have dealt with this and we will continue to deal with this.”
NO SECOND CHANCES
It is unknown what Haas are planning to do with Mazepin but Steiner says there will be consequences if such an event happens again.

In his column on The Race, he added: “We are not saying that this was OK and letting him get away with it. We are educating him and will keep on educating him for his future.
“There will be consequences if this or something similar happens again. We have put things in place that will help him to get better and make sure this doesn’t happen again; not to make the same mistake again, because this was a clear mistake.
“And he took responsibility, which for me was very important. I always say if you know what you did wrong you can do better. If you are in denial, then it doesn’t work.
“People have an opinion, that’s fine, also internally people didn’t like what happened, and this is why we continue to take this seriously
“But the full details of what we did, and what we are doing – I don’t want to disclose. This is not done and dusted, this is an ongoing thing, we are not moving on like nothing ever happened.

Mazepin’s father provides financial backing to the Haas team

The young driver has been told to grow up

The Russian posted this apology on Instagram

“I’m aware of the response on social media – and social media can be your friend and it can also be your enemy.
“People have an opinion, that’s fine, also internally people didn’t like what happened, and this is why we continue to take this seriously.
“This is a distraction that we don’t want, but sometimes these things happen. Of course, I would have rather this had not happened, but we got in this position and now we have to work on it, it’s part of our job.”

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