Tost doesn't believe in Mazepin: 'Guys who know what they are doing will survive'

With Yuki Tsunoda, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, the 2021 Formula One season has three 'Rookies'. While Franz Tost has praised his own pupil Tsunoda, he is not so keen on Mazepin.

Nikita Mazepin is under a magnifying glass even before he makes his Formula One debut. Many people do not want him in Formula 1 at all, after the remarkable incident in which he showed on Instagram that he groped a woman. On and off the track, however, Mazepin has often gone over the top.

''We are getting a number of young drivers now who are very good. Besides Mick (Schumacher) and Yuki, there is also Robert Shwartzman. I think very highly of those three drivers and this generation will be the future of F1,'' Tost told Auto, Motor und Sport. In the list he does not mention Mazepin, and when asked why, it becomes clear.

''I can be very rude and say that you are not going to make a tiger out of a cow, because it always depends on how smart someone is when they get in the car. However, in my career in Formula 1 I have seen that only drivers who are intelligent, know what they are doing and behave correctly will make it,'' concludes Tost.