© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Mercedes announced that Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries will drive for the team in F1’s post-season Abu Dhabi test, while Toto Wolff says the omission of Nikita Mazepin from the line-up is not due to recent incident.
Nikita Mazepin has been doing private tests with Mercedes for two years, funded by his billionaire father, but he will not be a part of the team’s post-season testing line-up. The Russian F2 driver, who is set to make his Formula 1 debut with Haas in 2021, was expected to test with Mercedes next week in Abu Dhabi.
Mazepin has been involved in a series of incidents throughout his racing career, with the most recent one happening last week when a video surfaced of him inappropriately groping a seemingly inebriated woman. This created an uproar in the F1 community and prompted Haas to start an internal investigation.
The Russian driver issued a half baked apology and the woman involved also tried to absolve him of any guilt, but the damage was done and his behaviour is inexcusable. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, however, says the incident has nothing to do with his omission from the post-season test.
“We had an extensive testing programme with [Mazepin] throughout the year with a two-year-old car,” the Austrian told Sky Sports F1.
“But for the young driver test, we decided on the line-up over the last few days, and providing the opportunity to Stoffel and Nyck is good.
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“They’re our works driver in Formula E, they’ve done a super solid job. And also with Stoffel not being in the car last week, it just made sense to put the two in a car.”
When asked if Mazepin’s incident had anything to do with the decision, Wolff was adamant that it didn’t.
“No, it’s nothing to do with his actions. The most important thing was to have some learning from the test.”
The post-season test at the Yas Marina Circuit on Tuesday will mark Nyck de Vries’s first time behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, while it will be the first time since leaving F1 in 2018 that Vandoorne will have an opportunity to drive F1 machinery.
We will bring you all the news from the test here on SilverArrows.Net.
