Nikita Mazepin’s F1 return hopes take step forward after key EU decision

Nikita Mazepin was sacked in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A possible return to the F1 grid has been made easier for Nikita Mazepin after the European Union overturned sanctions placed on the Russian driver.
Mazepin last raced in 2021 after he was sacked by Haas following the outbreak of war in Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
Nikita Mazepin has EU sanctions lifted in bid to return to F1
The invasion promoped worldwide action but also affected F1 with Haas severing ties with Russian company Uralkali.
The company was owned by Nikita Mazepin’s father Dmitry and financed Nikita’s Haas seat but since the funding stopped, Mazepin Jr has found himself out in the cold.
He has vowed to return to the F1 grid but that was made harder when the EU decided to impose sanctions on the driver due to his father’s purported ties with Vladimir Putin.
However Mazepin Jr has now successfully overturned that decision after the EU deemed his link to his father is not enough to remain on sanction lists.
Mazepin does still have the small matter of sanctions by the UK and Canada with those still in place and both being F1 race venues.
The 25-year-old most recently spoke in December when he said watching an F1 race was not “always just a pleasant experience” for him.
“For me personally, watching a race is not always just a pleasant experience, but also a certain stress,” he said in an interview with Russia’s Championat.
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“Because I am sitting, watching a race and I know that there is a track in Europe three and a half to four hours away from Moscow where a competition is taking place but, for some subjective reason, I can’t get there. For someone who is 24 years old, this is not an easy psychological challenge.”
Having raced in ALMS and in rally-raid events in 2022, Mazepin also said he is eager to get back into F1.
“It was interesting for me after Formula 1 to try something different,” he said.
“And I’ve basically tried a lot of things, but I really want to go back to where I started.
“Everything is like that: one step forward, two steps back, three steps forward… After all, after Formula 1, the championship in Asia is a certain downgrade.
“I try to keep myself in the right weight and shape to return to Formula 1 if such an opportunity arises. But I am a human being. I have the allotted number of years on this earth, so I have to think about other ways of development.”
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