Force India Driver Profile: Nikita Mazepin

Date of birth:  02/03/1999 (18)

Nationality:  Russian

Weight:  69 kg

Height: 174 cm

The last of the Force India drivers we’re going to showcase is young rising star Nikita Mazepin. The Russian joined the Force India team as their Development Driver in 2016 and had his first experience in a Formula One car the same year at the test in Silverstone.

Nikita started karting at the age of 7 and three years later he won the Russian Championship Cup, moving straight from that to international racing in 2010.

After competing in the World Junior Championship finals in 2013, he made the transition to Senior KF Class at the age of 14 and took second place at the World Karting Championships in Essay, France, in the last season of his karting career.

Following his transition to single seater cars in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000, he took a podium finish in his first race in Qatar and had further success in the Asia Cup Series. The following year he competed in the New Zealand based Toyota Racing Series, before returning to Europe for the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European cup, where he again finished on the podium.

Then in 2016 Nikita got his big breakthrough – after graduating to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, he was signed by Force India to enter their Development Squad at the age of 17. As well as the Silverstone test, he has undertaken a full simulator programme and has done tests in Hungary and Abu Dhabi.

Nikita still competes in the Formula 3 Championship and had three podium finishes in 2017. We wish this young and talented driver all the best for his future in Formula One as he continues on his development path with Force India.