11/12/2020
Nikita Mazepin hasn't quite reached F1, but F1 commentators and fans are talking about him quite a bit at the moment.
I watched some of the F2 racing last weekend and was extremely unimpressed by the way he used late, aggressive moves to try and defend his position. I say 'try', to some extent it worked. But it was highly dangerous and he certainly wasn't leaving adequate room and was guilty of multiple changes of direction.
I didn't see any evidence of penalties being applied at the time, but am guessing that it was such moves that have led to him amassing eleven pints on his super-licence.
Then, a video briefly appeared on his Instagram account of him groping a young woman who was a rear seat passenger in a car, in which he was a front seat passenger. She appeared to protect her breasts from the uninvited assault and show him the 'middle finger'.
It would appear that it was the young lady herself that uploaded the video to Mazepin's Instagram page, as a joke, and she has since defended him. Andrea D’lVal, the woman in question, used Instagram to defend her 'good friend'.
She apparently wrote:
“Hi guys, I just want to let you know Nikita and I have been good friends for a long time and nothing from that video was serious at all! We trust each other so much and this was a silly way of joking between us. I posted this video on his story as an internal joke. I am truly sorry. I can give you my word he’s a really good person and he would never do anything to hurt me or humiliate me.”
I've seen adults of all ages touching friends 'inappropriately' as part of joking around, which is what Ms D’lVal is suggesting happened hear.
I've had male friends give me nipple tweaks and there have been very public cases of sports personalities such as Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff pulling down the shorts of co-presenters, exposing their private parts. I've also had female friends grab my 'moobs' and have, on at least one occasion, responded by saying; "if you can do it, so can I" and touched her boobs (briefly and gently). It definitely didn't cause offence; in fact on the occasion that I can remember, the woman in question put her arms down and struck her chest out in an apparent invitation for me to do so.
So, did he do anything wrong?
It seems that virtually everyone, or at least everyone in the F1 arena who has voiced an opinion, believes he has behaved in a monstrous manner and it appears that many have said he does not belong in the F1 paddock. The #WeSayNoToMazepin hashtag has become a thing:
If it were based purely on what he did in the car and the response from Ms D’lVal, I'd say that this was a little unfair. Friends do so many things with or to each other.
At a father and kids camping weekend in 2013, I awoke on the Saturday morning to sniggers from many of the others there; there were approximately 30-35 dads and 50+ children who ranged from toddlers to teenagers.
The reason? There were maybe as many as 100 flyers taped up around the site. They were everywhere. And I was the target. I had turned up to the event in my new car, a Mercedes SLK... and this was deemed a 'hairdresser's car'. It really would have been useless as a hairdresser's car, as the boot would have struggled to provide room for all the equipment (my wife - at the time - was a mobile hairdresser and she dismissed the car's suitability).
Friends do things to each other that others might not understand.
I was appalled at the initial allegations against the young Russian driver and disgusted that - it seemed - some young sportsperson thought his fame and his wealth meant he could get away with such abuse.
However, Andrea D’lVal's comments appear to suggest that Mazepin is (relatively) innocent.
The thing is, Mazepin has made a statement that suggests he wasn't innocent at all.
Perhaps, for me at least, the most striking part of his 'apology' was the the following words:
"I have to hold myself to a higher standard as a Formula 1 driver and I acknowledge I have let myself and many people down."
Let me make this absolutely clear. In my opinion, sexual assault is abhorrent irrespective of who carries out the offence. To suggest that an F1 driver should be held to a higher standard in respect of sexually assaulting a young woman, almost seems to suggest that this is not something that 'ordinary' people need to concern themselves with.
Or, was he meaning that if he was not on the cusp of his F1 career the feeling the breasts of a woman without her consent would be absolutely fine?
Let's be absolutely clear. Touching someone sexually, male or female, whether they are the same sex as you or not, is not acceptable unless you are in a relationship and have some form of consent.
Whether or not Ms D’lVal and Mazepin were in some form of relationship (which may be a platonic friendship, rather than a sexual or romantic one) is something only they can say. No one else can really comment as to whether what the future F1 driver did was sexual assault or not.
Ms D’lVal's comments would suggest that it wasn't.
If she had not spoken up in defence of the Russian racing driver, I would say that his racing career - not just his F1 career - should be in jeopardy. I wouldn't want to be watching the sport I love if someone who was truly guilty of such an offence was taking part.
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