Haas Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin says he is “not proud” of his actions in his first interview addressing the controversy surrounding the vid♈eoꩵ uploaded to his Instagram account.

Mazepin filmed himself groping a woman’s breast in a car in a video that was posted o🔯n his Instagram account late last year. Although the video was swiftly tꩵaken down, it had already been widely shared across social media.

Haas issued a statement condemning Mazepin’s behaviour as “abhorrent” but 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:reaffirmed their commitmentಞ to the Russian driver, who will make his F1 debut thi♌s year with the American team after graduating from Formula 2.

Mazepin initially apologised for his conduct, but his state♐ment has since been deleted. , Mazepin insisted he has taken “full responsibility” and learned from what happened.

“First of all it’s very importan🌼t to say that my actions in December about 🔴the whole incident were incorrect,” he said. “I do take the full responsibility for it.

“It was a very big learning e꧃xperience 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.”

F1 and its governing body the FIA did not take any action, instead leaving the investigation to Haas, with team principal Guenther Steiner repeatedly insisting the team took Mazep𝕴in’s behaviour seriously and would resolve the situation privately.

Asked whether he had t♈aken any stepౠs to educate himself, Mazepin replied: “I totally understand they are correct in their feelings and that I was not correct with my actions.

“I’m not🍰 proud of it. It’s important to progress.”

Mazepin ultimately hopes his performances on༺ the track will help rebuild his reputation.

"The peopleꦫ who are with me over the past 21 years know who I am,” he added. “It's very difficult to be fake for people and I'm far from that.

"I will be myself outside oꦯf 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 b♛elieve 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."