Arriving on the F1 grid under a cloud of controversy, Nikita Mazepin says people who believe he is a bad boy have a “totally irrelevant” opinion.

Mazepin stepped up from Formula 2 to Formula 1 this season, signed by the Haas team with his father’s Uralkali company investing in the team as their title sponsor.

However, even before his first grand prix, the Russian driver had earned the ire of F1 fans as the result of a controversial video, the hashtag #SayNoToMazepin doing the rounds.

A spate of spins his debut race didn’t help his cause while more mistakes, and several incidents with other drivers, have seen 22-year-old branded F1’s newest bad boy.