Will Russia Return to F1? The Uncertain Road Ahead
Jun.23 - It will not be simple for Russia to return to Formula 1, although the president of the country's automobile federation is not ruling it out.
Russia's Vladimir Putin-supported place in the sport appeared rock-solid until the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict in early 2022, when F1 severed all ties.
Several years later, F1 has moved on and shows no real signs of looking back.
"To bring it back, we'd have to take a race away from another country," a realistic Boris Rotenberg, president of the Russian Automobile Federation, RAF, told Championat.
"Time will tell," he added. "I hope that, in the future, everything changes and goes back to normal," said Rotenberg, referring to Formula 1's attitude towards Russia.
Like the Sochi race, another victim of the Russia-Ukraine situation was Nikita Mazepin, whose contract was suddenly terminated by Haas.
He said last Friday at the St Petersburg international economic forum that the Russian state is at least supportive of Russian athletes and sport.
"I know about the problem first hand," he said. "Because of the sanctions, I was forced to end my career at its peak.
"We created a fund, made certain efforts to help athletes, but they are incomparable with the efforts of the ministry of sports," Mazepin added.
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The saying 'never say never' applies in life generally, but F1 returning to Russia is something that definitively will never happen.
Simply too much damage has been done for even a more distant future return to be tenable.
With that kind of support, Mazepin could race in Formula One... in Russia... as the one and only driver. That should keep everyone happy?
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