OCTOBER 25, 2023

Axed F1 driver says Europe ignoring court rulings

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.
(GMM)