F2: Nikita Mazepin’s Covid-19 birthday joke follows Valtteri Bottas’ Wuhan bat comment
- ‘One year since the guy in Wuhan ate a bat,’ writes Russian Mazepin, two days after F1 driver joked about the same thing at Turkish GP
- The 21-year-old’s since-deleted post divides social media users
Russian Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin has caused controversy by wishing Covid-19 a “happy birthday” in a post on his social media.
The 21-year-old son of Uralchem billionaire Dmitry Mazepin wrote “1 year since the guy in Wuhan ate a bat”, with the word “bat” replaced by a bat emoji.
“Happy birthday, Covid,” ended the post, along with a kissing face emoji.
While Mazepin deleted the Instagram post it had already been screenshotted and shared on other social media platforms such as Twitter and community-based site Reddit, where it was posted in the F1 Feeder Series subreddit.
Mazepin’s post and its subsequent shares opened a debate as to whether it was right to joke about the deadly pandemic, with social media users divided.
Of course, the young Russian is not the first driver to make a joke about the coronavirus.
Valtteri Bottas was asked by Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport if there was one day of 2020 he would like to skip from his calendar after the Istanbul Grand Prix last Sunday.
Bottas missed out on the podium, handing teammate Lewis Hamilton a record-equalling seventh driver’s championship.
“Today, yes, or maybe the day when someone bought a bat in Wuhan,” Bottas said.
F1 hopeful Zhou makes history with first Chinese win in F2
Mazepin, described as “one of Russia’s most exciting racing drivers” on his own website, won his maiden F2 feature race in August, beating China’s Zhou Guanyu at Silverstone.
The Russian Hitech driver has been linked with Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1, whom he tested with last year, topping the time sheets for the Germans in Barcelona last May.
Mazepin has been linked with a move to Haas for the 2021 Formula 1 season, where he would reportedly link up with fellow F2 driver Mick Schumacher.
