Background and career
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
