“It’s not easy to get a superlicence” – FIA President Jean Todt has defended their decision allowing Nikita Mazepin to race following the sexual misconduct scandal.
Jean Todt, speaking to the Cambridge Union Society was asked whether Nikita Mazepin should have been allowed to race following the sexual misconduct scandal involving his friend, which raised a social media storm, giving birth to the #WeSayNoToMazepin outrage campaign. Todt answered in the affirmative, focusing on the technical, rather than the morality aspect.
“To drive in Formula 1, you need to have a superlicence. And it’s not easy to get a superlicence because you need to have 40 points.
“So each driver who gets 40 points can [drive] in Formula 1. And Mazepin got the points. So it would be discrimination. Why shouldn’t he drive in Formula 1? The reason why he would not drive in Formula 1 is he could not have access to a superlicence, which is not the case.”
Nikita Mazepin to face serious consequences henceforth: FIA boss
However, the former Ferrari F1 boss did add that the Russian will face “serious consequences” if he commits a similar mistake henceforth. Mazepin is known to be hot-headed and apparently is not on great terms with his Haas teammate Mick Schumacher.
“To be very straightforward, I’m not happy about the situation. He has had a warning that if it will happen again, serious consequences will happen. Saying that, it’s something which happened in his private life. And unfortunately, he did not pay enough attention. So I simply hope that he will learn out of this lesson.”
Read more: “I’m not proud of it”- Nikita Mazepin opens about his controversy for first time
