09/03/2022
NEWS STORY
Following his sacking by Haas, Nikita Mazepin is to set up a foundation to assist athletes excluded from sport due to political reasons.
As Uralkali, the potash company owned by his father, announced its intention to see the return of sponsorship money paid to the American F1 team, Mazepin was revealing his plan to set up a foundation for sportsman, like himself, who find themselves sidelined for political reasons.
"The decision from Haas was not based either on any directive from the sport's governing body authority, or dictated by any sanctions that were placed against either me or my father, or his company," said the youngster in a video conference this morning.
"Of course, I don't feel this is fair," he continued. "But there is something more important here, I ask the question, is there no place at all for neutrality in sports? Does an athlete have a right not to just an opinion, but to keep the opinion out of the public space? Should an athlete be punished for that? And do we want sport to become just another public square for protests and political debate?
"We all know cases where one country refuses to compete with another in the Olympics because of their political disagreements," he added. "We saw in the 1980s that a generation of athletes lost their dreams and the chance to compete at the highest level when countries started boycotting one another.
"Is this where we want the sports to be? Or are sports a way to bring people together, even at the toughest times, and especially at the toughest times.
"My experience in the last few days has greatly informed my thinking on these questions.
"We all know that the career of an athlete is a short one, and that it requires years of intense sacrifice to perform at the highest level," he said. "When that final reward is taken away, it is devastating. And no one is thinking what happens next to these athletes. I will be addressing this."
In it statement this morning, Uralkali said that the 'refund' from Haas and the remainder of Uralkali's sponsor financing for 2022 will be used for the We Compete As One athlete support foundation, the name not entirely dissimilar to F1's own We Race As One.
"The foundation will allocate resources, both financial and non-financial, to those athletes who have spent their lives preparing for Olympics, or Paralympics, or other top events, only to find that they were forbidden from competing and collectively punished just because of the passports they held," he said.
"The whole reason I made this foundation is because I value that people, all people, have the right to stay neutral, whether they are athletes or people from other industries, that doesn't matter.
"We will work to find jobs to provide worthy incomes, as many of these athletes have been counting on sponsorships following their championship performances, which did not happen.
"We will also provide legal aid in cases where athletes wish to argue their status in sport. We will help them psychologically to cope with the sense of loss and emptiness that comes with being excluded from the sport that they love."
The youngster then gave insight into his sacking by Haas, revealing that he learned of the move at the same time the team issued its official press release.
"I had been aiming and planning to compete as a neutral,” he said. "This was firstly allowed by the FIA, the decision that they took, and I without any issues was happy to agree to that decision.
"However the night before my contract was terminated there was an additional letter," he continued, referring to the FIA's move whereby Russian and Belarus drivers had to effectively denounce their countries actions. "By the time that we were processing that letter and looking at options, because there were a lot of clauses in it, I received the termination of my contract early the next morning.
"There was no time to even say 'yes' to it, I had just been fired. I learned about the firing the same time as it had been released to the press.
"There is no legal reason to terminate the contract," he insisted. "I had been relieved to see that the FIA allowed us to start in neutral colours, I was hoping to drive. So I wasn't ready for it. I didn't receive any hint, or any support to say: 'You know, this is the decision we've taken, it's going to go live in 15 minutes, just be ready for it'.
"I haven't spoken to Guenther since I left Barcelona on the third day of testing," he revealed. "Guenther gave me no information about what decision the team is going to take, aside from the information that he has been giving my manager up to March 4. Then the press release came, I read it and found out that my contract had been terminated.
"I deserved more support from the team,” he said. "If they contact me directly, I'll happily tell them what I think of what took place.
"I absolutely do not see F1 as a closed chapter for me," he added. "I am going to stay in a race condition. And I will be ready to take on an opportunity if it comes.
"At the moment, I'm only sighting F1 and no other categories," he insisted. "I do not plan to participate in different series and different championships. I will now focus all of my attention and time to work with this foundation that I have established."
He then revealed that he had received messages of support from a number of his colleagues.
"I highly appreciated the small number of drivers who expressed this to me, for instance, Sergio, Valtteri, Charles and George, they all contacted me," he said. "I would also like to add that I'm thankful for the support from them, because in the long journey towards F1, they've been, every one of them, risking losing their seats, and they actually support me in this time when I lost my dream, and I lost my drive.
I want to say, first of all, that I understand that the world is not what it was two weeks ago," he said. "And I get it. For me, along with all of you here, I'm sure that this has been an extremely painful time.
"Those who do not live in this part of the world, or were not born here, will see only a part of it. Those of us in Russia or Ukraine, see it on many more levels.
"As all of us, I have friends and relatives who have, by force of fate, found themselves on the both sides of this conflict. What we're discussing today is important in its own way, but nothing in comparison to what is going on in the larger picture.
"I want to say, that I understand that the world is not what it was two weeks ago. And I get it. For me, along with all of you here, I'm sure that this has been an extremely painful time.
"Those who do not live in this part of the world, or were not born here, will see only a part of it. Those of us in Russia or Ukraine, see it on many more levels.
"All of us, I have friends and relatives who have, by force of fate, found themselves on both sides of this conflict. What we're discussing today is important in its own way, but nothing in comparison to what is going on in the larger picture."