Actor

1999-03-02 · Moscow · Male

4 series in the catalog

Nikita Dmitriyevich Mazepin (Russian: Ники́та Дми́триевич Мазе́пин, IPA: [nʲɪˈkʲitə ˈdmʲɪtrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ mɐˈzʲepʲɪn]; born 2 March 1999) is a Russian racing driver and motorsport executive who most recently competed under a neutral flag in the 2025 Middle East Trophy for Graff Racing. Mazepin competed in Formula One in 2021.

Born and raised in Moscow, Mazepin is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Belarusian-Russian oligarch who owns Uralchem. After finishing runner-up to Lando Norris at the senior Karting World Championship in 2014, Mazepin graduated to junior formulae. Following a season in Formula Renault 2.0, he progressed to the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2016, finishing tenth the following season. Mazepin then competed in the GP3 Series in 2018, finishing runner-up to Anthoine Hubert in his rookie season with ART. He also finished third in the 2019–20 F3 Asian Championship. Graduating to FIA Formula 2 in 2019, Mazepin finished fifth in 2020 with Hitech.

A test driver for Force India from 2016 to 2018, Mazepin topped the Barcelona in-season test in 2019 with Mercedes, driving the W10. Mazepin signed for Haas in 2021 to partner Mick Schumacher, making his Formula One debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix under a neutral flag representing the Russian Automobile Federation. After crashing out on the first lap of his debut, Haas scored zero points with the VF-21, with Mazepin finishing a career-best fourteenth in Azerbaijan. He made his final Formula One start in Saudi Arabia, withdrawing from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with COVID-19. His multi-year contract with Haas—alongside Russian sponsor Uralkali's—was terminated for the 2022 season following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, resulting in two years of arbitration and legal proceedings.

Upon his departure from Formula One, Mazepin founded the Jordanian-British sportscar racing team 99 Racing. With the team, he competed in the Asian Le Mans Series from 2023 to 2024, winning multiple races. In rally raid, Mazepin took a class victory at the Silk Way Rally in 2022.

Early life

Nikita Dmitriyevich Mazepin was born on 2 March 1999 in Moscow, Russia, and is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Belarusian-Russian oligarch businessman who is the former core shareholder and former chairman of Uralchem.

Education

Starting in 2017, he studied international relations at the Faculty of Global Studies at the Moscow State University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2021. Immediately after receiving his bachelor's degree, he enrolled in the master's program at the same faculty of the same university and studied the same academic major, graduating with a master's degree in 2023.

Being a student, he also studied at the military training center of the Moscow State University, completing the reserve officer training program within the Department of Special Training and becoming a lieutenant of the reserve of the Russian Armed Forces.

Junior racing career

Karting (2010–2014)

Having won the Russian Karting championship, Mazepin started his international karting career in 2011 in the Andrea Margutti Trophy. He quickly moved up the ranks, driving in the CIK-FIA Karting European Championship in the KF3 class in just his second year of competition. In 2013, he finished fourth in the KFJ-category of the WSK Super Master Series, and in 2014, his final year of karting, he came 2nd in the Karting World Championship to Lando Norris.

Lower formulae (2014–2015)

Mazepin made his car racing debut in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 at the end of 2014, driving in the first round of the series and grabbing his first podium in just his second race of his single-seater career. He then made the switch to compete in the Toyota Racing Series with ETEC Motorsport, where he finished 18th in the drivers' standings. He followed that up by racing for Josef Kaufmann Racing in the Formula Renault Northern European Cup alongside Louis Delétraz, Kevin Jörg and fellow rookie Dries Vanthoor. Mazepin scored one podium with a third-place finish at the Red Bull Ring, and ended up twelfth in the championship.

Formula Three (2016–2017)

2016

In 2016, Mazepin competed in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European Championship for Hitech Grand Prix. He scored four points-scoring finishes and finished 20th in the championship, last of all full-time entrants. After being blocked during a session by Callum Ilott, Mazepin got into an altercation with the other driver, during which Mazepin hit Ilott in the face, resulting in a ban from the first race of the Hungaroring meeting. The sanction itself was controversial, with Frits van Amersfoort, boss of Ilott's team, believing the decision to be too lenient, calling it "a ridiculous decision by the stewards". Mazepin additionally completed a mid-season test session with Sahara Force India at Silverstone following the 2016 British Grand Prix.

2017

Despite the controversies of 2016, Mazepin was retained for another season. He improved significantly compared to his first year, scoring 108 points and finishing on the podium on three occasions. He finished in tenth, one place behind teammate Ralf Aron.

GP3 Series (2018)

Mazepin moved to GP3 in 2018 to race for ART Grand Prix alongside Callum Ilott, Jake Hughes and eventual champion Anthoine Hubert. He won four races, the most of any driver that year, and finished second in the championship, only sixteen points behind Hubert. Furthermore, he helped his team secure the title in the team championship.

FIA Formula 2 (2019–2020)

2019

In 2019, Mazepin progressed to Formula 2 to partner Nyck de Vries at ART Grand Prix. His season was marked by causing an accident with Nobuharu Matsushita in the Sochi sprint race. While his teammate ended up winning the championship, Mazepin ended the season in 18th place with eleven points.

2020

In 2020, Mazepin signed for the new Hitech Grand Prix Team to drive alongside Italian Luca Ghiotto. His first podium came at the Hungaroring with second place, before taking his first F2 victory in Britain. Mazepin also won the feature race at Mugello. On the final lap of the Belgian feature race, he pushed Carlin driver Yuki Tsunoda wide, and was given a five-second time penalty, denying himself victory.

Formula One career

Mazepin was named test driver of Sahara Force India in 2016 and made his Formula One testing debut in the in-season test at Silverstone, where he achieved a personal best lap time of 1:31.561. He stayed in that role for the following two seasons, racking up 100 laps at the Hungaroring in 2017 and 51 in 2018 at the same track. The following year he took part for Mercedes in the 2019 Barcelona test, where he topped the timing sheets with a time of 1:15.775.

Haas (2021)

2021: Rookie season

Mazepin joined Haas F1 Team for 2021 on a multi-year deal, partnering Mick Schumacher. He chose the number 9 as his permanent racing number. Mazepin competed under a neutral flag representing the Russian Automobile Federation in the 2021 Formula One World Championship after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency ban on Russia competing at World Championships in December 2020 due to state-sponsored doping of Russian athletes.

In his debut race, Mazepin crashed out on the first lap by losing control on the kerb at turn three. After finishing last in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, having spun twice in practice and blocked Antonio Giovinazzi in qualifying, Mazepin was given a five-second penalty for ignoring blue flags and blocking Sergio Pérez during the Portuguese Grand Prix. His first race in which he beat teammate Schumacher came in Monaco, and Mazepin achieved his best result of the season at the following round in Azerbaijan, largely thanks to four retirements affecting the rest of the grid.

Mazepin missed the season finale at Yas Marina due to a positive COVID-test on race day; he was not replaced for the event. He ended his debut season 21st in the standings, with no points scored throughout the…