Nikita Mazepin, who is , didn’t finish last yesterday in Monaco. He finished second-to-last.

Well, maybe fourth-to-last, depending on how you count, as pole-sitter Charles Leclerc didn’t even start the race owing to , while Valtteri Bottas didn’t finish because of a . Mick Schumacher, meanwhile, did finish, but, for the first time this season, he finished behind his teammate Mazepin.

“Even though we are one of the slowest or the slowest team, everything flies by so much,” Mazepin . “The car was quite difficult to drive very fast out there.”

Things , though let’s not pretend that is some kind of accomplishment, even if beating his teammate for once is.

Well, sort of, since Schumacher said .

“Unfortunately, we had a few issues with the engine mid-race, and that took us some time to solve,” Schumacher said. “But by the time we solved, obviously, we fell back.”

The race began with Schumacher bossing Mazepin around the hairpin, which, the final result notwithstanding, is a simulacrum of the whole season for these two.

Mazepin , but he has one, which means us fans must make lemonade with lemons, which, in Mazepin’s case, means , and how bad he is likely going to continue to be. I Googled Mazepin’s odds of winning the title this season, and , but even that is probably generous.

I confess that I struggle to understand what Mazepin gets out of all this. Maybe it is as simple as: It is fun to be 22 and driving a race car, because at that age you don’t quite realize that everything, ultimately, adds up.