Formula One bosses will hold an emergency meeting TODAY to discuss BANNING Russian driver Nikita Mazepin – who is the son of a billionaire oligarch with close links to Vladimir Putin – due to Ukraine crisis
- The sport of Formula One will hold emergency meeting regarding Russia today
- Russian driver Nikita Mazepin’s future is under threat amid the crisis in Ukraine
- The Haas driver could be suspended from racing outside of Russia this season
- Mazepin is son of oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin
Formula One’s governing body will stage an emergency meeting today to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.
It is understood that the future of F1’s sole Russian driver Nikita Mazepin is set to top the agenda.
The president of the Automobile Federation of Ukraine, Leonid Kostyuchenk, has demanded the FIA bans all Russian and Belarusian drivers from competing outside of their own countries.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who will chair Tuesday’s summit, wrote to Kostyuchenk last week to offer his full support.
On Monday, UEFA and FIFA took the joint decision to suspend Russia from all club and national fixtures as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) called for all sporting competitions to remove Russian stars.
The IOC recommended similar bans be introduced by all sports, with the possible exception of the Winter Paralympics due to the proximity of the Games, which begin in Beijing on Friday.
An FIA spokesperson told the PA News agency: ‘An extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council will be convened tomorrow to discuss matters relating to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
‘Further updates will be given following the meeting.’
The future of F1’s sole Russian driver Nikita Mazepin will top the agenda of an F1 meeting today
Nikita is the son of a billionaire oligarch – Dmitry Mazepin – with close links to Vladimir Putin (L)
F1 has already cancelled the Russian Grand Prix, which had been scheduled to take place in Sochi on September 25, while Haas removed the branding of its title partner Uralkali for the final day of the pre-season test in Barcelona last week.
The Russian fertiliser company is part-owned by oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, whose son Nikita races for the team.
The 53-year-old, who owns chemical company Uralchem, has been a representative of Vladimir Putin’s United Russia Party and has close ties with the Russian leader.
Mazepin Snr attended a meeting held by Putin last Thursday following his homeland’s invasion of Ukraine and the pair have met for talks regarding Mazepin’s business, which he launched in 2007, in recent times.
The wealthy businessman’s current wealth is unknown but reports have suggested it could be up to £5billion ($7bn). Mazepin Snr served in the military as an interpreter in Afghanistan in the late 1980s. He has been awarded military medals by the Russian government.
Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said he could make no guarantees on the Russian driver’s future and said the issue of its Uralkali sponsorship is likely to be resolved in the coming days.
F1 team Haas removed Russian sponsor Uralkali’s branding from its car and run it in an all-white livery on the final day of Barcelona testing on Friday
The Russian fertiliser company is part-owned by oligarch Mazepin Snr – Nikita’s dad
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel said he would boycott the Sochi Grand Prix if it went ahead and called for F1 chiefs to axe it from its 2022 calendar as he became the first driver to speak out against Russia last Thursday.
After initially stalling on a decision by saying they were monitoring the situation ‘very closely’, F1 officials decided to pull the plug on the race on Friday.
A statement read: ‘The FIA Formula One World Championship visits countries all over the world with a positive vision to unite people, bringing nations together.
‘We are watching the developments in Ukraine with sadness and shock and hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to the present situation.
‘On Thursday evening Formula One, the FIA, and the teams discussed the position of our sport, and the conclusion is, including the view of all relevant stakeholders, that it is impossible to hold the Russian Grand Prix in the current circumstances.’
The loss of the Grand Prix came just hours after UEFA handed Paris the Champions League final at the end of the football season as sport continued to turn on Russia.
F1 Aston Martin driver Vettel, 34, said on Thursday: ‘In my personal opinion, obviously I woke up again after this morning’s news, shocked.
‘I think it’s horrible to see what is happening. Obviously if you look at the calendar, we have a race scheduled in Russia.
The Russian Grand Prix in Sochi was axed for this season’s Formula One campaign last week
F1 star Sebastian Vettel said he would boycott the Sochi Grand Prix if the race went ahead
‘For myself, my own opinion is I should not go, I will not go. I think it’s wrong to race in that country. I’m sorry for the people, innocent people who are losing their lives, getting killed for stupid reasons under a very strange and mad leadership.
‘I’m sure it’s something we will talk about, but as I said as GDPA (Grand Drivers’ Prix Association), we haven’t come together yet.’
Reining world champion Max Verstappen stopped short of condemning Russia, but also thought the race should be scrapped. He added: ‘When a country is at war, it is not right to race there.’
F1 acted after CEO Stefano Domenicali chaired a crisis summit with its governing body, the FIA, and the sport’s team bosses on Thursday night.
It is unclear at this stage if the race will be replaced, but Turkey’s Istanbul Park has been mooted as a contender to fill the now vacant slot on the calendar.
Liberal Democrat MP Jamie Stone wrote to Domenicali demanding the round is stripped from the calendar.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of war crimes on Monday after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks on the fifth day of their invasion. Above: Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city, coming under heavy attack on Monday
Stone wrote: ‘It is vital that the rest of the world stands united in condemning Putin’s actions, including international sporting organisations such as Formula One. Russia must not be allowed to host prestigious sporting events, so there should be no Russian Grand Prix this year.
‘We know that Putin craves status and recognition on the global stage. It would be an outrage if the world sees Putin standing on the F1 podium at Sochi after the race, as he has done in recent years.
‘I note with approval former world champion Sebastian Vettel saying he would boycott the race if it is held. F1 should follow their lead and cancel the event.’
Ukraine’s president has accused Russia of war crimes after Vladimir Putin’s forces launched what were believed to be cluster and vacuum bomb attacks on the fifth day of their invasion.
In a late night address directed at Russia on Monday, Volodymyr Zelensky said there would ‘definitely be an international tribunal’ for what he said was a ‘violation of all conventions’ and added that ‘no one in the world will forgive you for killing peaceful Ukrainian people.’
A destroyed Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle is seen next to a spent missile casing in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, which came under attack from ‘cluster’ munitions on Monday
In a panicked bid to reignite his stalled military onslaught, Putin had launched an indiscriminate bombing campaign on the eastern city of Kharkiv just 24 hours after local resistance had sent his troops packing from its streets.
Weapons rained down on the most Russia-friendly city in Ukraine – which sits 25 miles from the border and is home to 1.5million people – in a bid to break its will to resist.
The hail of bombs, shells and rockets which began falling at lunchtime left at least 11 dead, including three children, with homes and even a school reduced to rubble.
A military source told MailOnline that videos of the onslaught showed ‘cluster’ munitions – which are illegal under international law – had been used.
‘The BM-21 Grad is a multiple launch rocket system used for “area denial”, dropping cluster bombs on a concentrated area,’ the expert said. ‘It’s mainly used on enemy troops before an offensive. Used against civilians, it’s not only a war crime, but has only one purpose – to spread terror and alarm among the civilian population.’
Model DEFENDS Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin and says he ‘was not serious’ when he groped her breasts in video that provoked angry backlash online
A model who was filmed having her breasts groped by a Russian F1 driver said he was ‘not serious’ and is a ‘really good person’.
Nikita Mazepin, 21, provoked an angry backlash online in 2020 after he posted the Instagram video of himself grabbing the breast of Andrea D’Ival in the back seat of a Porsche.
Ms D’Ival appeared to push Mazepin away from her in the footage as he grabbed her chest, raising her middle finger at the camera. He captioned the video: ‘She’s the best.’
The driver posted the footage during a night out in the United Arab Emirates.
The American motor racing team condemned Mazepin’s video as ‘abhorrent’ in a statement but said that they would be dealing with the matter internally.
The video has since been deleted and Ms D’Ival, has downplayed it as a ‘joke,’ adding that the Russian billionaire’s son is a ‘really good person and he would never do anything to hurt or humiliate me.’
Writing on her Instagram Stories, she said: ‘Hey guys, I just wanted to let you know that Nikita and I have been friends for a long time and nothing in the video was meant seriously.
‘We trust each other and it’s just been fun between the two of us. I posted the video as a joke in his story. I’m really sorry.
In the Instagram stories clip, Mazepin reaches and appears to touch the woman sat in the back seat in an inappropriate way
‘I give my word that he is a really good person and that he would never do anything that would hurt or humiliate me.’
In a statement Mazepin’s team wrote: ‘Haas F1 Team does not condone the behaviour of Nikita Mazepin in the video recently posted on his social media.
‘Additionally, the very fact that the video was posted on social media is also abhorrent to Haas F1 Team.
‘The matter is being dealt with internally and no further comment shall be made at this time.’
Mazepin also issued a statement expressing his regret.
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