EU Sanctions Strangle F1 Dream: Mazepin Blocked from Racing Return
Oct.16 - Hungary's foreign minister has slammed the sanctions that have ended the Formula 1 dream of Nikita Mazepin for now.
At the outbreak of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, Russian Mazepin was sacked by Haas but also blocked even from returning to Europe due to European Union sanctions against the 24-year-old and his influential father Dmitry.
Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs, met with the former F1 driver in Moscow last Friday.
Afterwards, Szijjarto told Tass news agency: "The European Union included Mazepin in the sanctions list, which, unfortunately, is a return to the communist principle.
"In the past, communists held children responsible for the real or perceived actions of their parents," he charged.
Mazepin successfully challenged the EU sanctions earlier this year, but that didn't stop the European Union from reapplying the same sanctions.
"It is no coincidence that the European Court, in two decisions, ruled that Nikita Mazepin should be allowed to work - that is, to participate in competitions in the EU," Szijjarto said.
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He never had a return chance in the first place.
The sponsorship contract was cancelled on solid grounds since his father supports Putin. That Mazepin is not allowed to drive has nothing to do with his father. It is because Mazepin himself refuses to take a stance against the war and de facto also supports Putin and his war against Ukraine. But luckily he is as crappy a driver as he is a person, so no one will miss him.