Formula 1 News: Next step for Mazepin is to sue Haas for millions (Update)

(GMM) Haas is already the subject of legal action after firing Nikita Mazepin in early 2022.

Recently, when the Russian driver won a European Court of Justice case against his political sanctions, former F1 figure Oksana Kosachenko said the 25-year-old’s next step should be to sue Haas for wrongful dismissal.

But Mazepin has now told Russian media group RBC that a lawsuit against Haas and its former boss Gunther Steiner has been underway for two years now.

“The trial continues,” he revealed. “And this case has nothing to do with the decision of the EU court.

“The (Haas) case has already been considered in arbitration,” Mazepin added, “and we are waiting for a decision, which, I hope, will be made soon.”

Mazepin thinks his chances of returning to Formula 1 have “increased sharply” since the recent EU court decision, even though it will “not be easy”.

“It’s hard to get there, and even harder to get back,” he said. “But when we first started suing, almost no one believed in our success.

“Therefore, no matter how absurd and funny it may sound now, I believe that my return to Formula 1 is possible. But first we need to achieve the implementation of the court decision. And that’s not as simple as it seems.

“I hope that it doesn’t take long and that I will have exactly the same rights to enter countries as any other driver,” said Mazepin.

(GMM) Political sanctions against axed Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin have been dropped by order of the European Court of Justice. Next step may be to sue Gene Haas and the Haas team, say his Russian manager.

The Russian driver, named in the sanctions due to his father’s connections to Vladimir Putin, has been fighting to restore his right to travel, work and race in Europe since the outbreak of the Ukraine war ended his F1 career.

“The resolution states that the connection with his father, Dmitry Mazepin, was an insufficient basis for imposing sanctions,” Russian news agency Tass reported.

The news was confirmed by the Russian agency for legal and judicial information (RAPSI, while other Russian reports said the lifted sanctions now mean Mazepin’s personal funds would be unfrozen.

Mazepin told Tass that he got a “fair hearing” in the court, but added: “I understand that the legal process for lifting sanctions has not yet been completed, but this is certainly an important milestone for me.”

Oksana Kosachenko, manager of the former Russian F1 driver Vitaly Petrov, thinks 25-year-old Mazepin should now pursue the American team Haas for unfair dismissal.

“I think the next completely logical step would be to make mandatory demands on the Haas team, which unilaterally terminated its contracts with Mazepin,” she told Kommersant, a Russian daily business newspaper.

Kosachenko explained that Mazepin should seek “some kind of compensation for moral damage and, of course, financial compensation because we understand perfectly well that an athlete spends a lot of resources in order to prepare for participation in the world championship”.