The tragic news stories that come from Ukraine and that are inevitably monopolizing the front pages of all the news, implicitly also bring a very strong attention to all sportsmen from Russia and Belarus. The invasion of Ukrainian territory by the Moscow army resulted in very severe sanctions from all major international sports federations. Many of these have decided an immediate exclusion of all athletes from the aggressor countries from their respective disciplines. In the world of motorsport, on the other hand, the FIA, while acting hard against the car federations of Russia and Belarus, has left a certain freedom towards the drivers. By subscribing to a official document through which they undertook to completely disavow the actions of their country, in fact, Russians and Belarusians still retain the possibility of competing from neutral athletes.
Despite this possibility, however, two of the most famous names in Russian motorsport will still be forced to watch the 2022 season from the trackside. It is about Nikita Mazepinunilaterally downloaded in F1 by Haas together with its sponsor Uralkali, and by Daniil Kvyat. The story of the former rider of Red Bull and Toro Rosso, who this year should have raced in the WEC, is however even more particular than that of the Muscovite. In fact, after his third year as the Alpine driver, Kvyat had signed this year for the Russian team G-Drive in the LMP2 category. The team is backed by Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft, which is based in St. Petersburg. Alexander Krylov, head of the regional sales department of Gazprom Neft, heads the team. The strong Russian matrix of the team is also confirmed by the presence of another rider from that country, Roman Rusinov.
Both Rusinov and Kvyat, however, as reported by the site RacingNews365, they would have no intention of ratifying the document “Neutrality and peace” which the Federation requires. Rusinov took a clear position in this regard on his social channels, confirming that he refused to sign the document, which he considered discriminating. Rusinov’s post also received praise from Kvyat himself. Both should have signed that commitment by 4 March, but they do not appear to have done so. So their season is actually over even before starting. Both of them also risk an indefinite stop, because the commitment is valid for all categories recognized by the FIA.
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