After returning to the country in 2014, Formula 1 should not return to Russia for many years.
The promoter of the Formula 1 world championship announced on Thursday that it was definitively breaking its contract with the race promoter, after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army.
"
Formula 1 can confirm that it has terminated its contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoter, which means that Russia will have no racing in the future
," said F1 promoter Formula. One.
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Formula 1: manufacturers' classification
Formula 1: drivers classification
This announcement sounds like the final sanction of an inevitable process that has been underway for a few days.
The 2022 Russian GP was canceled on February 25 immediately after the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian armed forces.
The event was to be held one last time in Sochi, host circuit since 2014, before moving to Saint Petersburg in 2023.
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Secondly, the FIA, like many other sports federations, imposed on Wednesday the neutrality of Russian and Belarusian drivers in motor racing and Formula 1 in particular.
This sanction, inspired by the recommendations made by the IOC concerning the athletes of these two aggressor countries, will concern a competitor on the set of the 2022 World Championship: Nikita Mazepin.
Nikita Mazepin increasingly isolated in the F1 paddock.
Panoramic
But the Haas driver's participation in the championship is very uncertain because it is linked to the fate of the partnership between his American team and its main Russian sponsor, the Uralkali group, which specializes in the production of potash.
Mazepin is the son of Russian billionaire and oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, shareholder of this industry giant, who arrived at the same time as the team's title sponsor.
The career of the Muscovite, banned from the future Grand Prix of Great Britain by the British Automobile Federation, is hanging by a thread.