After being thrown out: Masepin shoots against Haas

“Is there no place for neutrality in sport at all?” Masepin wanted to know at a video conference in Moscow on Wednesday, drawing a line back to the 80s, when several nations did not take part in the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. “Does an athlete not only have the right to an opinion, but also the right to keep that opinion out of the public sphere?”

Masepin did not take a position on the Ukraine war the day before the start of the official test drives in Bahrain. He removes this opinion from the public space. The EU, however, has formed a clear opinion and on Wednesday added Masepin and his father Dmitri to its expanded list of oligarchs and people whose assets in the EU will be frozen and who will no longer be allowed to enter the country. Certainly not to Formula 1 races either. Masepin defends himself Masepin, however, reserves the right to take legal action against his expulsion. “It's good to keep all your options open,” says Masepin, sitting behind a black desk somewhere in Moscow. At the same time, he makes it clear: “I don’t want to go back to a place where they don’t want me.”

This place is Haas – and returning is out of the question anyway. After the Russian attack on Ukraine, the racing team terminated the contract with Masepin as the second driver on Saturday. On Wednesday, the team announced the Dane Kevin Magnussen as their successor. The 29-year-old drove for Haas from 2017 to 2020 and is given preference over replacement driver Pietro Fittipaldi. Magnussen is expected to be in the car for the three-day test drives in Bahrain, where Haas can only start on Thursday afternoon due to transport problems. The team also separated from the Russian title sponsor Uralkali. “There was no legal reason that would have enabled the team to terminate my contract.” Nikita Masepin Masepin's father is a co-owner of the mining company and is said to have close ties to Putin. “As far as the current conflict is concerned, I have expressed my views and position in my statement,” says Nikita Masepin. In fact, he didn't. Rather, he believes that his expulsion is “not fair”. “There was no legal reason that would have enabled the team to terminate my contract.”

A chronology of events: On March 1st, the World Motorsport Council announced that a Russian driver like Masepin would be allowed to compete as a neutral athlete under the “Fia flag” “until further notice”. On March 4th, the world motorsport association FIA declared that Russian drivers must sign a code of conduct in which, among other things, they clearly distance themselves from Russia's actions in Ukraine. Find out about the end through the press “I wanted to start as a neutral athlete,” says Masepin and says about the declaration of commitment: “While we were going through the letter and examining options because it contained many clauses, I received the termination of my contract early the next morning.” Didn't even have time to say "yes, I was simply fired." But the question that faces Masepin is: Can someone like him even be considered neutral?

Masepin apparently only found out about his Formula 1 retirement through the press release. “I would never have imagined that I could have lost my seat so early.” He wants to “close the chapter clearly and start the next one with hope.” But first, his threatened lawsuit is in the room. Sponsor wants money back And Uralkali is also not at all happy about the “unilateral” termination of the sponsorship. The company is demanding an “immediate refund of the amounts received from Haas” for this season. The money will flow into a joint foundation with Nikita Masepin. “We Compete As One” aims to support athletes who are excluded from top competitions for political reasons “beyond their control.”

“Our door is open to everyone,” said Masepin and announced his first aid project: the Russian athletes who were not allowed to take part in the Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

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After being thrown out: Masepin shoots against Haas

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