Nikita Mazepin questions F1 ‘values’ despite refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Sacked Russian driver Nikita Mazepin has questioned the ‘values’ of Formula 1, despite his own refusal to condemn his home nation Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

The American-owned Haas team effectively fired Mazepin shortly before the start of the 2022 F1 season, following the start of Russia’s deadly assault on its neighbour, which has seen almost five million people flee the country according to the United Nations.

Mazepin’s father Dmitry, a billionaire oligarch and chairman of state-owned fertiliser company Uralkali, met with Putin on the day he began his invasion of Ukraine in February and both he and his son have been added to the European Union’s list of sanctioned Russians.

The Mazepin family had a villa worth up to £88m seized by the Italian government in Sardinia last week, and are embroiled in a legal row with the Haas team. Uralkali is seeking a reimbursement of up to 12 million dollars after the team cut its title sponsorship agreement with the firm shortly before it sacked the younger Mazepin, but Haas insists it owes Uralkali nothing.

Now Mazepin has claimed that the legal complications which have arisen since the termination of his Haas contract show that motorsport needs to have its ‘values evaluated.’

‘I would say the biggest issue here is coming back to the sport where teams are allowed to be keeping sponsorship money without fulfilling the contract,’ Mazepin claimed. ‘And even asking for more, even though they say they don’t want money from Russia. So I’m not sure, but the sport values need to be evaluated for me after this.’

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