A closer look at the nature of access of a paddock visit from sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin on Thursday is underway.

Belarusian-Russian businessman oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, the former chairman of Haas’ title sponsor Uralkali, visited the Formula 1 paddock during the second day of testing in Bahrain.

Dmitry Mazepin returns to F1 paddock

Mazepin, father of former F1 racer Nikita Mazepin who drove for Haas in 2021 before the commencement of Russia’s military action in neighboring Ukraine, has been an absent figure from the F1 paddock ever since the American squad promptly severed ties with Uralkali in early March 2022.

Through his role as chairman of Russian potash fertiliser company Uralkali, Mazepin’s company became the title sponsor of Haas in 2021, coinciding with the team signing his son to form one-half of their driver line-up in 2021.

Following the commencement of Russia’s military action, Mazepin was added to the EU and UK sanctions list, sanctions placed on prominent Russian businessmen through their connections to President Vladimir Putin’s political regimen.

While sanctions on Nikita Mazepin were lifted in March 2024, his father’s application for annulment of the EU’s General Court’s sanctioning ruling was denied in late 2024.

In practice, these EU sanctions prevent individuals from entering or transiting through EU territory by land, air or sea while asset freezes mean that all accounts belonging to the listed persons and entities in EU banks are frozen. It is also prohibited for EU entities to make any funds or assets directly or indirectly available to them.

With said sanctions not applying to Bahrain, Mazepin was spotted in the F1 paddock on Wednesday.

The Russian oligarch paid a visit to Mercedes’ hospitality unit, but was not a guest of the Brackley-based team – nor was he a guest of Alpine, with whom Mazepin has had historic ties with team boss Oli Oakes through Oakes’ Hitech outfit, for whom his son drove in junior categories.

Mercedes fielded Mazepin for a private testing programme prior to his arrival in Formula 1, including a test outing in the W10 in Barcelona in 2019.

It is yet to be ascertained the nature of Mazepin’s visit to the paddock, with the Russian’s pass – which is understood to have been issued as a ‘rotational pass’ that does not require prior guest approval – not applied for by any F1 team, the FIA, Formula 1, or the promoters at Bahrain International Circuit.

Determinations regarding who the rotational pass was assigned to are yet to be made, while it’s understood F1 credential personnel are looking into the issuance.

PlanetF1.com has approached F1 for comment on Dmitry Mazepin’s visit to the F1 paddock in Bahrain.

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Mazepin’s visit to the paddock comes a little over six months after the conclusion of a legal dispute between Haas and Uralkali.

Ever since their split three years ago, the two parties had been in dispute over the split, with Uralkali seeking a refund on the $13 million fee they paid Haas to cover the entirety of the F1 2022 season.

In June 2024, Uralkali claimed to have been victorious in the dispute with Haas, saying “the tribunal found that Haas was in violation of the contract and obliged the team to pay compensation to Uralkali.

“The tribunal also rejected all of the team’s counterclaims toward the company.

“The arbitral award puts an end to the dispute between Uralkali and Haas regarding the sponsorship agreement.”

But, in the lead-up to the Spanish Grand Prix, a team statement from Haas shed further light on the arbitration ruling with the team able to keep hold of the sponsorship fee for the period prior to the termination of contracts with Uralkali.

The two key clarifications were that the arbitration panel did not find that ‘Haas was in violation of contract’, as Uralkali claimed, and the arbitration panel did not order Haas ‘to pay compensation to Uralkali’.

The panel only ordered Haas to refund the portion of the sponsor fee attributable to the time after the contract was lawfully terminated.

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