Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Saker.

My guest today is a young Russian racing driver whose embryonic career in the high-octane world of Formula One

has come to a grinding halt as a result of the international response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Nikita Mazepin is just 23 years old.

After several years cutting his teeth in lower tier racing,

last season was his first in Formula One.

He drove for the Haas team, which not coincidentally,

his father, a billionaire Russian oligarch, big infertilizer, sponsored

to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. Mazepin Jr. brought great financial benefits

to Huss, but he didn't bring them any success on the track. In fact, he became known as Mazespin,

after a series of mishaps.

Nonetheless, he was expected to be on the grid for this season until Russia invaded Ukraine.

Within days, Haas fired him and walked away from the sponsorship deal with Ural Kali fertilizers.

Soon after that, both father and son were amongst the Russian individuals

named on an EU and UK sanctions list. Nikita Mazepin says, that's not fair. He's now founded

an organization to help athletes denied the right to compete for non-sporting reasons. But when it comes to international efforts

to isolate Russia for its actions in Ukraine, isn't the sporting arena fair game? Well, Nikita Mazepin

joins me now on the line from Moscow. Welcome to Hard Talk. Stephen, thank you for having me.

It's a pleasure to have you on the show.

You thought that right now you would be driving in a Formula One team.

You would be part of the F1 season.

As it stands, you no longer have a job.

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