Mazepin – Nevsky of the world of racing: advice to the stars who left F-1, a cup named after himself, a third own team

After a whole year of almost no racing, Nikita Mazepin has finally found a place in motorsport: the fourth Russian in F1 will spend the 2023 season in the top class of the Asian Le Mans Series (a four-stage endurance racing championship in the UAE) . For him, this is a very important event, since 2022 did not bring any benefit to Mazepin’s sports career. Although Nikita himself thinks differently:

“Despite everything that has happened, I have not lost the most important thing, which is sports as a central element of my life. On the contrary, my connection with the sports world has only intensified.

Our We Perform As One Foundation helps suspended athletes and develops talent in different countries. We enlisted the support of like-minded people and even found our reflection in art, a large community of sympathizers gathered around us.

This year I realized how important it is to let go and fill life with something new. 99 events and music became an outlet for 2022. What about the Silk Way Rally? The victory that we achieved (I would say, to which we broke through) after ten days of off-road travel from Astrakhan to Moscow.

Honestly, the year was filled with impressions. But it only helped me as a person to take a step forward.”

But what have we really seen from Mazepin in a year? Here is the failed presentation of the fund, and the karting cup named after himself, and strange advice to the four-time F-1 champion Sebastian Vettel. It’s embarrassing to even win Silk Road because of its circumstances.

In general, it is amazing that it is a shame even from the good deeds of the pilot – there is too much of the elusive spirit of the Russian Schwarzenegger Alexander Nevsky in them.

Mazepin’s helmet was handed over to the State Sports Museum and called “victorious”. In it, Nikita made his debut by flying into the wall

A month after parting with F-1, Mazepin handed over the helmet from the debut Grand Prix to the State Sports Museum. In the hall of technical events, he joined the victorious ATV of Sergey Karyakin from Dakar-2017 and the motorcycle of Anastasia Nifontova (two-time world mountain bike rally champion – Sports.ru) – also from the main raid of the planet.

On the official website and in the press release, Mazepin’s helmet was called “victorious” . In fact, in this outfit, Nikita made a typical mistake of a beginner of the junior series: he gasped when one rear wheel touched the asphalt and the other touched the curb, and fell into the wall three turns after the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Mazepin rode 150 meters – this is the shortest debut since 2002.

 

The epithet “victorious” has already been removed from the site.

Presentation of the Mazepin Foundation: a discussion about beer as the salvation of sports

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the ex-pilot of Haas presented his own fund We Compete As One (“We act as one”, helps athletes who have been suspended for political reasons) – Nikita borrowed the Kommersant stand for the presentation. Georgy Cherdantsev, a Match TV commentator, was called as a moderator.

The event was broadcast on YouTube. Technology failed: after Mazepin’s introductory speech about the importance of his cause, a promotional video for the foundation was released – but it did not go on broadcast. As a result, online viewers sat for a minute without sound and watched the speakers – they were also bored.

The video was launched on the broadcast – and Nikita’s opening speech was actually repeated there.

During the presentation, the speakers talked about Russian sports and government funding: for example, the solution to all problems in beer:

“I am aggravating it completely. What can save us and what can help us take out this needle [most likely, we are talking about the state] is the liberalization of legislation in two areas: beer and bookmaking. I am not kidding. Liberalization in these areas – there is a lot of money there. That’s it, I’m done, ”is the proposal of Igor Stolyarov, head of the Future Games cybertournament project.