We are less than a month away from the 2025 F1 campaign starting in Australia where so many storylines await the sport between then and it’s season-finale in Abu Dhabi in early December.
One storyline that will not be happening? Any possible return for Nikita Mazepin.
The Russian racer began his foray into the sport in 2021 when he was signed by Haas and became a team-mate of Mick Schumacher, the son of legendary seven-time world champion Michael.
The duo were a rookie tandem and their inexperience showed as they were the only full-time drivers to not score a single point in the season (Robert Kubica’s two-race stint for Alfa Romeo also yielded nil-points but he was a stand-in while Kimi Raikkonen had Covid).
The opening race that year at the Bahrain Grand Prix was a microcosm of things to come for Haas as Mazepin spun out on the first lap, while Schumacher finished 16th – the last of all running cars.
Mazepin could not even take part in the final race of the year after testing positive for Covid on race-day, meaning his debut term ended prematurely.
A lot has happened to Nikita Mazepin (pictured in 2022) since he was a F1 driver with Haas
Mazepin’s sole F1 season came in 2021 was as a team-mate with Mick Schumacher for Haas
The 25-year-old recently posted a Valentine’s Day tribute to his partner on Instagram
The Moscow-born driver was due to be part of Haas’ driver line-up for the 2022 season but on March 5, 2022 he had his contract terminated as part of the larger global response of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mazepin’s debut season in 2021 coincided with Haas being sponsored by Uralkali – a Russian fertiliser company part-owned by his oligarch father Dmitry, an associate of Russian president Vladimir Putin. Mazepin Sr was one of a number of leading businessment invited to a meeting with Putin at the Kremlin hours after the invasion began. And just like his son, Haas also dropped Dmirty’s sponsorship for the same reasons.
Soon after the Mazepins were included on a list of people who faced sanctions from the European Union over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In part of the 64-page document, on Mazepin Jr it read: ‘Nikita Mazepin is the son of Dmitry Arkadievich Mazepin, General Director of JSC UCC Uralchem. As Uralchem sponsors Haas F1 Team, Dmitry Mazepin is the major sponsor of his son’s activities at Haas F1 Team. He is a natural person associated with a leading businessperson [his father] involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine.’
Mazepin Jr has since successfully has the sanctions overturned against him, with that decision made 11 months ago. In that ruling, the general court said Mazepin had stopped being a driver for Haas, meaning the EU was wrong to keep him on its sanctions list after he was sacked by the team two years prior.
Fast-forward to the present day and it appears Mazepin has many goals for this year as he reshapes his career post-F1.
Rebranding himself as a ‘hybrid athlete’, the now 25-year-old wishes to compete in five different sports in 2025 – including boxing in autumn.
‘This year, I plan to participate in five competitions in different sports,’ he told Russian agency Tass.
Mazepin was sacked by Haas in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They also dropped Uralkali as a sponsor a Russian fertiliser company part-owned by his oligarch father
Mazepin’s father Dmirty sits down with Russia president Vladimir Putin in November 2022
‘The boxing match will take place in the fall of 2025 and I hope everything will go well.’
It is unclear as of yet who that opponent could be. Of the remaining four sports it is known that he is currently training for a triathlon, while he also preparing to contest the Silk Way Rally. He is also the co-founder of 99 Racing – a Jordanian-British sports car racing tea that competes in the Russian Rally-Raid Championship and in the LMP2 class of the Asian Le Mans Series.
A look on his Instagram, where he shared a loving Valentine’s post with his partner, shows Mazepin’s love for all types of different sports – which includes him in combat gear, shooting as well and rally driving.
But what about a return to F1? He sees the sport as a hobby now but claims that if the door ever re-opens to Russia then he could make a return.
Mazepin Jr is training for a triathlon (left) and also has plans to have a boxing fight this year
On his social media, the 25-year-old recently uploaded footage of him at a shooting range
‘I’m 25 now,’ he recently told Forbes Russia.
‘I think if a Russian appears in Formula 1 in the next seven years, it will be me. Because if someone calls me and says that I have to get behind the wheel in four months, there will be no problem.
‘And I will definitely be in perfect athletic shape until I’m 32 at the very least.
‘Right now, I’m better prepared than when I debuted in Formula 1. And my lack of relevant experience in these prototypes is very quickly fixable. So I think that if you see a Russian in F1 in the near future, it will be a person with my first and last name,’ he smiled.
