F1: Mazepin says Europe ignoring court rulings

(GMM) European countries are ignoring a court ruling allowing Nikita Mazepin to resume his international racing career, the Russian driver claims.

Mazepin and his sponsor Uralkali were sacked by Haas at the onset of the Ukraine-Russia conflict in early 2022, but subsequent western sanctions even locked him out of Europe and other countries altogether.

The 24-year-old successfully got the sanctions including travel restrictions overruled by the European Court of Justice – but he remains unable to enter Europe.

“We got the interim measures in place,” Mazepin told Tass news agency, “but then the sanctions were renewed, and the interim measures stopped working.

“Now we have managed to return these interim measures to the new sanctions package,” he explained. “The main difficulty now is that the interim measures are not respected by all European Union countries.

“We’ve only been able to enter only one country,” said the former Formula 1 driver, referring to Italy. “But I would like to be able to enter all the EU countries again so that I can compete again.”

Related article: Mazepin’s lawyer slams new EU sanctions

Mazepin insists he is still trying to revive his Formula 1 career, but it will not be easy given the war in Ukraine continues.

The Russian was not only ousted by Haas at the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis early last year, but sanctioned by western powers – stopping even his freedom to travel to Europe and beyond.

However, he then won some key court battles overturning certain European Union restrictions – but in reality was only granted permission to travel solely to Italy recently.

“I went to Italy for a training camp,” Mazepin, 24, told Tass news agency at a forum called ‘Russia Is A Sports Power’ in Perm.

“A few months ago I received interim measures from the European Union, which allowed me to enter EU countries for sports purposes,” he added.

“But at the moment I’ve only been able to enter Italy, because I did not receive a Schengen visa. But I still think that this is a step forward for my return to big-time sports in Europe.

“This includes Formula 1 and endurance racing, and other competitions,” Mazepin insisted.