"Everybody has a right to speak or not to speak" - Nikita Mazepin feels F1's values 'need to be evaluated' after recent controversy
Nikita Mazepin blames Haas for keeping his sponsorship money despite not letting him drive in the 2022 season. The Russian driver believes F1 needs to evaluate its values if team’s don’t return the sponsor's money after firing the drivers.
Speaking to CNN Quest, the former Haas driver said:
“Everybody has a right to speak or not to speak and the FIA, the highest governing body, has enabled me to compete as long as I’m neutral. But I would say the biggest issue here is coming back to the sport where teams are allowed to be keeping sponsorship money without fulfilling the contract."
"And even asking for more, even though they say they don’t want money from Russia. So I’m not sure, but the sport values need to be evaluated for me after this.”
Nikita Mazepin is still looking forward to be behind an F1 wheel someday 🙏 https://t.co/p7qkOrumtS
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FIA has allowed Russian drivers to race under a neutral flag. However, Nikita Mazepin was dropped by Haas citing his father Dimitry Mazepin's close connection with President Vladimir Putin.
The father-son duo have since been sanctioned by the EU and their properties in Europe have been seized, but have been trying to claim their investment in Haas back.
Nikita Mazepin laments losing his F1 drive and blames Haas for not being clean
The Russian driver held a press conference after being dropped stating he was removed from the team unfairly. Haas replaced Nikita Mazepin with former driver Kevin Magnussen, but did not return Uralkali’s money back which was responsible to a large extent for the development of their car.
The Haas team have responded by rejecting the bid and claiming to retain the amount of 12 million Euros as per the terms of the contract.
Lamenting the loss of his F1 drive, Nikita Mazepin said:
“It’s difficult to say at this moment in time, because I’m very wary that my issue is that I’ve lost a job. I was trying to get to F1 for 17 years and then I eventually got there. But it’s a very minor issue if you compare to the big things that are going on in the world right now. Of course, I would love to get back to the sport."
"I feel that I’ve got a lot of unfinished business there. But I need to wait until things cool down. And I don’t even know who I can get back to because, you know, Haas has obviously done what they did with playing not the cleanest game, in my opinion. But it’s different for me.”
The situation between Haas and Nikita Mazepin doesn't seem to be ending any time soon 🤦♂️ https://t.co/OcZeGwwUtU
While the 23 year old is on the EU sanctions list and cannot travel outside his country, he has condemned the attacks on Ukraine in his own way and the unfairness towards Russian athletes.