Thursday, September 09, 2021
After the Zandvoort incident
In Monza, Mick threatens the next Haas-Zoff
The high-speed course in Monza often provides memorable moments. Most of them are spectacular, risky overtaking maneuvers. Real explosives for the upcoming racing weekend. Not necessarily in the top positions, but in the team-internal duel between Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.
Max Verstappen wheel to wheel with his Red Bull against Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes, eighth gear, over 300 things. Not an unlikely scenario in Monza this coming weekend. The high-speed course provided plenty of memorable maneuvers. The duel between Sebastian Vettel, then world champion in the Red Bull, and Fernando Alonso in the Ferrari in front of the home crowd of the Scuderia 2011 and 2012 at the beginning of the “Curva Grande” is unforgettable. “I was on the meadow when I was 340,” reported Alonso nine years ago. In 2011 it happened to Vettel in the same place.
“When you race against someone like Fernando – who has experience and whom you respect – you can go to the limit and ride bike to bike without thinking about it,” said Vettel ten years ago after his victory in Monza. Such overtaking attempts are particularly spectacular on the circuit, where almost 80 percent of the time is driven at full throttle. But also particularly risky if only one driver is involved who does not meet Vettel’s conditions for a tough maneuver at the limit. That a driver is punished, like Vettel in 2012, is one thing; that a colleague is in danger, another.
Life-threatening action in Zandvoort
And that quickly brings you to Nikita Mazepin and the trouble with the Haas team with Mick Schumacher. Most recently in Zandvoort, the 22-year-old Russian almost pushed the 22-year-old German – both in their first season in the motorsport premier class – into the pit wall. Highly dangerous. It was not the first time that Mazepin changed lanes during the race when braking – strictly forbidden and even more extremely risky.
The action against Mick Schumacher was “life threatening”, judged Sky expert and ex-racing driver Ralf Schumacher. If you take the pit wall with you, “it throws the car into the air and it blows into the people or the devil knows what can happen there,” said Mick Schumacher. Mazepin, who has been blaming a rowdy image not only since this season, which has already been riddled with incidents, is unreasonable even after such incidents.
Steiner as a crisis manager
His very rich father finally provides the money for the racing team, which fought for its existence last year and took a daring path with two newcomers for this season. Team boss Günther Steiner, whom many from the Netflix series about Formula 1 appreciate as a cursing cult figure, is in demand as a crisis manager. Especially before a race like in Monza, where there will be an encore on Saturday with the sprint decision for the starting grid for the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday (3 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) comes.
But Steiner has a problem. On the one hand the vital money from Russia, on the other hand the driver with the name that fans all over the world know. Steiner can also be happy that Mick Schumacher is anything but uncontrolled, impetuous or thoughtless driving his inferior Haas racing car. “In Monza I hope that there are no further problems between the two,” wrote Mick’s uncle Ralf in a column. “But if everything goes normally – even at the start – Nikita isn’t anywhere near Mick anyway.”
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