Ukrainian automobile federation asks FIA to exclude Russian drivers

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is also shaking up the world of sport. Particularly in Formula 1. The Russian Grand Prix scheduled for September 25 in Sochi has already been canceled and the team Haas has made the decision to remove the Uralkali sponsor from its livery. The question of the presence of Nikita mazepin, the Russian driver of the American team, at the start of the first Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain, on March 20, therefore arises.

Pietro Fittipaldi to replace Mazepin?

In response to a letter of support sent by Mohammed Ben Sulayem, President of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), Leonid Kostyuchenko, President of the Ukrainian Automobile Federation, demanded several sanctions against the Russian oppressor. In particular the fact of banning from international competitions pilots using a Russian or Belarusian license, a country allied to the army sent by Vladimir Putin in this conflict. This would therefore concern Nikita Mazepin, son of Dmitry Mazepin, non-executive director of Uralkali, who has supported his son Nikita's career since its beginnings. Career whose continuation with the American team seems most uncertain today. “ We have to see how this develops over the next week, underlined Günther Steiner, the team manager of the team, during the Barcelona tests, and we'll see from there. There are legal questions. There are some legal issues that we need to resolve and we'll see how that goes. Not everything depends on us here. There are governments involved and I have no power over them. We also need to see the situation, how it is developing in Ukraine. » 

If the Russian driver's career in F1 were to be put on hold, Pietro Fittipaldi would appear as the logical replacement, initially, due to his status as third driver at Haas F1 Team. Günther Steiner thus confirmed that the Brazilian, entered in the LM P2 category of the ELMS with Inter Europol Competition this season, would be “the first name called”. At 25, the grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi (Formula World Champion in 1972 and 1974) competed in two races with Haas at the end of 2020, when he replaced Romain Grosjean during the Sakhir and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix after the Frenchman's accident in Bahrain.

The International Olympic Committee also issued the recommendation “international sports federations and organizers of sporting events not to invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions. » Since 2012, the FIA ​​has been recognized by the IOC.

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