Russian racing driver Nikita Mazepin sparked a tirade of criticism on social media in December after he groped a model in Dubai and uploaded a video of the incident onto his Instagram story.
The Haas F1 Team, which Mazepin will race with in 2021, quickly condemned the “abhorrent” incident and took internal action which it has not yet made public.
READ: Alex Albon Believes He Still Has A Shot At Returning To F1
The 21-year-old, who’s the son of Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin, swiftly posted an apology for his actions but later deleted this tweet, before purging all of his tweets just days later.
Ahead of his F1 debut later this month, Mazepin has opened up on the incident and admitted that his conduct was “incorrect.”
“First of all it’s very important to say that my actions in December about the whole incident were incorrect,” Mazepin said in an interview with ESPN.
“I do take the full responsibility for it. It was a very big learning experience and I can confidently say that I’m much further in my knowledge on this kind of matter than I used to be, so there’s a small bit of positivity there.”
He added that he is “not proud” of his actions and said “it’s important to progress.”
Continuing, he said having ups and downs is part of life, and he hopes his on-track performance will do most of the talking for him going forward.
“The people who are with me over the past 21 years know who I am. It’s very difficult to be fake for people, and I’m far from that.
“I will be myself outside of the track, like I’ve been. I’ve had my ups and my lows, but that’s part of life. I think the racing should do the speaking, mostly.
“I believe I’m a very good racer on track; I believe I’m a fast racer. I’m actually looking forward to the challenge of showing people who might not like me at the moment that I have great racing skills.
“That hopefully changes the perception of me,” Mazepin concluded.
READ: Ferrari Vice-Chairman Criticises F1 For Keeping Technology ‘Secret’