Nikita Mazepin returns to race after Formula 1 dismissal, $153 million sanction over Ukraine war

He's gone from Formula 1 to rally cross and not doing badly either! Nikita Mazepin suffered a serious blow earlier this year when European sanctions cost him $153 million. He also lost his job at the F1.

Now, the Russian racer is at the wheel again and even managed to win his first competition, the T3 class in the Silk Way Rally in July 2022. He says he's considering taking part in the famous Dakar rally.

In March of 2022, Mazepin and his father lost over $150 million in real estate due to European sanctions over the war in Ukraine. Local authorities in Italy went after his possessions in the same way they did with other wealthy Russians who are close to Vladimir Putin.

While the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine was underway, in early March, Nikita Mazepin also lost his place as a Formula 1 driver. His American team, Haas, unilaterally terminated his contract.

A month later, the sanctions for his family's support of Putin went to a whole new level. The life of Nikita Mazepin and his father, the Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin (photo), took an unexpected turn with European sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Nikita Mazepin believed that his Formula 1 spot with Haas was guaranteed thanks to the sponsorship of Uralchem, a company owned by his father, Dmitry Mazepin.

Mazepin had already been a controversial racer in the Haas team. He hadn't gotten good results in 2021 and became known for his aggressive tactics on the race track.

Mazepin's continuance in the team despite his bad results suggests that the sponsorship of Uralchem, the Mazepin family business, weighed in the decision of Haas to keep him for the 2022 season.

Yet, despite the immense sponsorship in Haas, they chose to drop the Mazepin family two weeks after the Ukraine war started.

The organization for F1 races, the FIA, would have allowed Mazepin to continue racing with them if he'd agreed to sign a document renouncing his connections with Russia. However, his own team, Haas, did not give him a choice. He was dismissed.

What's more, the consequences of the war went beyond sports. Embargoes worth many millions have occurred in Italy and other western countries.

As local media and Fox News report, Italian authorities have frozen Mazepin family assets worth $153.8 million. The sanction involves a residential complex in Sardinia, owned by the racer and his father with an estimated value of €105 million.

The luxury complex is located in Porto Cervo in the municipality of Olbia. Just north of the island of Sardinia, the town is known for hosting wealthy people of different nationalities.

(Photo: Alessio Medini / Pexels)

Dmitry and Nikita Mazepin, are the owners of the now-frozen complex. They manage it from the distance through an overseas company, ANSA News reports. "The villa has 25 rooms, luxurious gardens and a large swimming pool and overlooks the Mediterranean," Fox News adds.

While Nikita Mazepin takes every opportunity in the media to describe the sanctions as "cancel culture," the European Union continues to put pressure on the circle of businessmen surrounding Putin.

In that list of oligarchs linked to the Russian president, Dmitry and Nikita Mazepin appear. The Mazepin patriarch is the majority shareholder of Uralchem, a petrochemical empire.

The Financial Policing Team in Italy, called the Guardia Di Finanza, has already seized more than 900 million euros (or nearly 1 billion dollars) in Russian-owned villas and yachts since the beginning of the Ukraine war.