F1 CEO To Speak To Drivers Following Mazepin Groping Scandal

Nikita Mazepin sparked controversy in December after he groped a model’s breasts.

Nikita Mazepin Haas 2021

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has said he will be meeting will all 20 of the sport’s drivers in Bahrain to remind them of their obligation to be role models.

Domenicali, who became the CEO of Formula 1 at the start of this year, also commented on the December incident involving Nikita Mazepin and said the Russian racing driver’s conduct was clearly unacceptable.

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“I would say that it was pretty clear what he did was not acceptable,” the former Ferrari F1 team principal said.

“But I think that he was apologetic as a reaction to what he did and we need to make sure that in the discussions that we will have… that they understand we cannot joke about certain things – it’s not possible.

“They are too important not to understand they are role models… that is something that we are going to discuss together, not only with him, at the appropriate time,” he added.

Continuing, he said: “We cannot lose the opportunity in making sure they understand they are more than drivers, they have a big responsibility because they are the face of our sport.

“They have to understand that their behaviour and their words and a lead-by-example approach is what I am expecting to share with them.

“I want to share how I believe we should work together also in using our platform and their role model to push for issues that are important for our society.”

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Nikita Mazepin sparked controversy in December after he groped a model’s breasts and uploaded a video of the incident onto his Instagram story.

He later issued an apology on Twitter before deleting the tweet.

The Haas F1 Team, for their part, condemned the “abhorrent” incident but ultimately decided not to axe Mazepin over his conduct.

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