​Nykyta Mazepin was expelled from Formula 1 in March 2022, and was subsequently placed on the EU sanctions list due to his association with his father, tycoon Dmytro Mazepin. On Wednesday, the EU court ruled in his favor and lifted the sanctions against him.

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Nikita Mazepin, who was excluded by the EU Court from the list of Russians subject to sanctions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The Court of Justice of the European Union has won a case against Nikita, a former Haas driver, seeking to lift EU sanctions imposed on him as part of the EU bloc’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

“Family ties with his father, Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin, are not enough to consider him related to his father by common interests and, therefore, to leave him on these lists,” he said.

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The court noted that the “association” criterion used in the EU sanctions regime requires a connection that goes beyond simple family relations.

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Mazepin was placed on the EU sanctions list because of his connection to his father, an influential businessman who, according to the EU, was the main sponsor of his son’s racing activities, News.ro reported.

Nikita Mazepin claimed from the beginning that the EU was wrong in its assessment.

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At the age of 25, Nikita Mazepin was kicked out of Formula 1 by the Haas team, for which he played at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In March 2022, the pilot was included in London’s list of sanctioned Russians, as was his father, tycoon Dmytro Mazepin.