Dmitry mazepin, an old acquaintance of Formula 1, was spotted in the paddock of the Bahrain during the pre-season tests. The reasons for his presence are unknown. Let's try to understand together what is behind a visit that could be anything but courtesy or dictated by a passion for motorsport. I suspect, above all, his brief meeting with Oliver oakes, team principal of Alpine.
Mazepin's shadow: in Bahrain during testing
Where were we? Oh yes: February 2022, Vladimir Putin's Russia invades Ukraine. The Western world, in protest against the invaders, implements a whole series of sanctions, economic and otherwise, against companies and, in this case, also against sports figures. A chain reaction that also involves Formula 1. In particular, Haas, an American team financed at the time by uralkali, Russian fertilizer industry by Dmitry mazepinThe latter, even today, is one of the oligarchs most loyal to President Putin and, precisely for this reason, Haas felt forced to refuse the rich sponsorship and to fire Nikita Mazepin a few weeks before the start of the world championship.
Over the past two and a half years, the relationship between the Mazepin family and Formula 1 has played out coldly in the courts. The legal proceedings have involved father and son against Haas, which was forced to return the sums that sponsor Uralkali had anticipated for the 2022 season. Finally, the Council of the European Union ha ousted the name of Nikita mazepin from the blacklist that saw him appear together with other 2000 people and organizations close, in various ways, to President Putin. The sanctions included a ban on entry into EU countries and the freezing of their assets. Mazepin had ended up on this list for being the son of an oligarch, a justification that later turned out to be too mild.
Despite the legal disputes being resolved in favor of the twenty-six-year-old Nikita, the former Haas driver will no longer continue his career as a driver. The young Russian will dedicate himself to other sports, such as boxing for example. Not a great loss for F1, given his poor competitiveness and his constant incorrectness on and off the track. Totally different story for his father Dmitry, who was spotted in the paddock during pre-season testing in Bahrain. But now the doubts are the following: how Mazepin obtained the pass and above all the reason for his visit.
Mazepin and that bond with Oliver Oakes, Alpine team principal
The presence of Dmitry Mazepin took everyone by surprise in the paddock. Probably, as hypothesized by Ian Parkes di RacingNews365, the man managed to obtain a circular and non-nominative pass for himself and his ten-year-old son. This stratagem should have allowed him to enter the paddock without requiring any approval and, above all, without announcing his presence to teams and journalists.
Now to the reason for the visit by Mazepin. The ways he may have chosen to enter the paddock during the tests suggest that the businessman of Belarusian origin did not want to attract too much attention. The mystery therefore thickens, especially if we consider a brief exchange with Oliver Oakes, current team principal of Alpine. The two, it seems, are linked by a long friendship. oakes He was the founder and director of the HitechGP, British team that races in the lower categories of Formula 3 and Formula 2. Nikita Mazepin raced for Hitech, with his father Dmitry also owning the team before the war between Russia and Ukraine. After the conflict began, however, Mazepin sold his shares back to Oakes.
Subsequently, just like Andretti, Hitech GP also tried to enter Formula 1, an attempt that however came to nothing. Behind the candidacy of the English team, however, there is he suspected at the time that there was still support from the Mazepin family, despite the sanctions in place. For this reason, when Oakes was appointed team principal of Alpine, it was thought that it was a way to bring Hitech GP back into the top category via the French F1 team.
Alpine linked to Mazepin in future?
"Yes, I said hello. No, I didn't meet him. Yes, he's a friend of mine and I was with him in Hitech. He was here to meet a friend of his. It was nice to see him. I won't say anything else. The world is a crazy place.“. These are Oakes’ words about his meeting with Mazepin, as reported by Motorsport.com. Almost a slightly more articulated no-comment. There is not enough evidence to certify a possible return of the Mazepin family to Formula 1, but by joining a few dots we can build some hypotheses.
Alpine, since he arrived Briatore, is a stable under reconstruction. Last year also came the news that from 2026 it will no longer be Renault to supply the French team. His place will be taken by Mercedes. A singular choice, with an important manufacturer like Alpine giving up the engines of its parent company, with protests from the team and those workers employed in the Viry-Châtillon factories. In short, Briatore in order to return to winning he is willing to do anything, even making courageous and unexpected choices like this one. Who knows, in the ongoing process of rebuilding the team, there may not be room in the upper management levels for funding by Dmitry Mazepin.
The political context is no longer the same as in February 2022, when Russia and Vladimir Putin's supporters were fully condemned by the European Union and the rest of the West. World politics is changing rapidly, as seen by the meeting between Zelensky and Trump at the White House. And Formula 1 is sensitive to these types of developments. For this reason, hypothesizing a possible return of the Mazepin family in the top flight is quite plausible. Should Dmitry's shadow increasingly extend over the paddock, we will see if his commitment will be linked to the future of Oakes and Briatore's Alpine, or who knows in what other form.
