Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, sacked by Formula One outfit Haas, is creating a foundation to help sportspeople who have found themselves barred from competing due to “political reasons out of their control”.
Mazepin and Haas’s Russian title sponsor Uralkali had their contracts terminated last Saturday as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mazepin’s father Dmitry is a non-executive director of Uralkali, a group specialising in potash.
Nikita Mazepin, 23, said the funds for the ‘We compete as one’ foundation would come from the money that Uralkali would have paid Haas.
He said their treatment by American team Haas was not “fair” and that he had been willing to abide by motorsport governing body the FIA’s ruling to compete as a neutral athlete.