Two years later, Nikita Mazepin won his case. European justice on Wednesday March 20 canceled the European Union sanctions against the Formula 1 driver and his father Dmitry Mazepin, a Russian oligarch. In March 2022, a few weeks after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU placed the billionaire and his son on its “black list” established since the annexation of Crimea by Moscow in 2014.
The pilot’s inclusion on this list was based on a criterion of association with his father, boss of the Uralchem chemical group, whose activity constitutes a source of income for the Russian government.
“The family relationship with his father (…) is not enough to consider Nikita Mazepin as being linked to him by common interests and, therefore, to keep him on the sanctions list,” ruled the Court of Justice. EU in its judgment. “According to established case law, (the association criterion) implies the existence of a link going beyond a family relationship, established in the light of a body of sufficiently concrete, precise and concordant evidence”, explained the Court, ruling that this “association” was in this case “in no way established”.
In March 2022, the American team Haas decided to part ways with its driver. At the time, Nikita Mazepin expressed his disappointment and denounced this decision: “I am very disappointed to learn that my F1 contract has been terminated. The FIA regulations and my willingness to accept the proposed conditions to continue were completely ignored. No procedure was followed in this unilateral act. »
The pilot, now aged 25, had applied to the General Court of the European Union to have the acts of the Council of the EU annulled, considering that they were “tainted by an error of assessment”. In March 2023, the same court had already issued an interim order suspending part of the sanctions against Nikita Mazepin and authorizing him again to compete in car races. Since last year, the Russian driver has returned to competition with the 99 Racing team in the Asian Le Mans Series.
