As you probably know by now, you know, if you’ve been watching the news all week, Russia invaded Ukraine. Therefore, many efforts are being made by international governments, businesses, and financial institutions to get Russia to, um, not do that anymore. Russia and Russian athletes Yes has been banned from competing in most other sports on the motorsport planet. Ukraine’s motorsport federation has asked the FIA to follow other sporting examples and begin with the enactment.
F1 driver Nikita Mazepin’s father, Dmitry Mazepin, and Russian support Donors Uralkali is not currently covered by any international sanctions against Russia, but the theory going on is Haas will terminate the contract if possible. Regardless, the FIA’s special committee will meet on Tuesday to decide whether Mazepin will be allowed to continue riding in the Haas VF-22 for the 2022 season.
It is clear that this committee will not only meet to discuss Mazepin, as he is just one of the few drivers sanctioned by the FIA for driving under the Russian flag. Le Mans’ 24-hour entry list was expected to be announced on Monday, but has been postponed by the ACO and FIA without giving a reason. The reason, we must assume, is some Russian team and driver maybe cannot be included. For example, G-Drive Racing is a Russian flag team using Russian driver Daniil Kvyat.
The Ukrainian Motor Racing Federation has requested the FIA the following:
- prohibiting the use of the state emblems of the aggressors of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus in competitions approved by the FIA and FIA;
- prohibiting the organization of FIA competitions and FIA-authorized competitions in the territory of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus;
- ban the RAF and RAF sanctioned competitions on the occupied territories of Ukraine;
- exclude from the FIA all members from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus;
- exclude from the FIA commission all persons representing organizations from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus;
- Prohibit holders of all licenses issued by the RAF and BAF to participate in competitions outside the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.
Obviously this must be the start of a long discussion about motivesport because it involves racing in countries or allowing drivers from countries to violate human rights and many other activities brutality. But, we’re probably not ready for that conversation, are we?
