In a ruling that was made on Wednesday, the European Union mentioned that it couldn’t justify the ex-Haas F1 racer remaining on a listing of people which have had sanctions imposed on them on account of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
On the time, Mazepin and his father Dmitry have been singled out as individuals who have been topic to restrictive measures, which included the freezing of funds and bans from getting into the territory of Member States.
That call got here shortly after Mazepin was axed by the Haas staff on the eve of the 2022 season, when the American-owned squad introduced that it had terminated his driver contract, and that of his backer and staff title sponsor Uralkali, due to the invasion.
Mazepin, who has since returned to racing within the Asian Le Mans Sequence, had lengthy pushed to get faraway from sanction lists world wide however been unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, the EU has now modified its stance and mentioned that Mazepin must be taken off the sanctions listing as there was no proof of there being any ties along with his father past household hyperlinks.
And whereas his father’s Uralkali enterprise had sponsored his racing actions beforehand, its backing was now not an element since he had misplaced his drive at Haas.
#98 99 Racing Oreca 07 – Gibson: Nikita Mazepin
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Photographs
In a press release issued by the Common Courtroom, it argued that placing Mazepin on the sanction listing – merely due to the affiliation along with his father – was unsuitable.
It mentioned: “The Common Courtroom recollects that the ‘affiliation’ criterion, utilized in respect of Mr Nikita Mazepin, covers individuals who’re, typically talking, linked by frequent pursuits.
“In accordance with settled case-law, that criterion implies the existence of a hyperlink going past a household relationship, established within the mild of a set of indicia sufficiently particular, exact and constant.
“Within the circumstances of the current case, the Common Courtroom holds that the Council didn’t discharge its burden of proof to determine such a hyperlink. The affiliation between Mr Nikita Mazepin and his father is by no means established from an financial or capital perspective or by the existence of frequent pursuits linking them on the time when the sustaining acts have been adopted.”
Mazepin welcomed the transfer, although it’s thought unlikely to alter something materially in his bid to get again to F1.
“I’m vastly inspired by immediately’s ruling and grateful to the European Courtroom for a good trial of my case,” he mentioned in a press release. “That is actually a vital milestone.”
