Nikita Mazepin linked with shock F1 return amid Alpine merge rumours

Former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin could be offered new hope of a shock F1 return amid rumours that Alpine may merge with the Hitech Grand Prix junior team.

The future of the existing Alpine squad is uncertain with parent company Renault planning to allocate its historic Viry engine base to non-F1 projects.

Potential Alpine-Hitech merger to open door to Nikita Mazepin F1 return?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The process will be overseen by former Alpine team principal Bruno Famin, who announced to media including PlanetF1.com at the recent Belgian Grand Prix that he will be stepping away from his F1 duties at the end of this month.

With Alpine poised to switch to a customer engine supply in time for the F1 2026 regulation changes, the move has been widely interpreted as a key step towards Renault selling the team, having failed to emerge as a leading force since repurchasing the Enstone-based outfit at the end of 2015.

Last month, Alpine announced the return of controversial former team boss Flavio Briatore as an executive adviser, with “challenging the existing project by assessing the current structure and advising on some strategic matters within the sport” included in the Italian’s remit.

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Alpine’s restructure continued this week when Oliver Oakes, the founder and boss of Hitech GP, was announced as Famin’s successor as team principal.

Oakes, who had established himself as one of the leading management figures in the junior categories, will become the second-youngest team principal in F1 history when he takes charge of Alpine after the summer break.

It has emerged, however, that there may be more to Oakes’ appointment than first meets the eye, with multiple reports suggesting a merger between Alpine and Hitech, whose bid to enter F1 last year was rejected by governing body the FIA, could now be on the cards.

Hitech’s F1 entry application was submitted following an investment by Kazakh billionaire Vladimir Kim.

German publication Auto Motor und Sport have claimed that Hitech and Mr Kim are now keen to enter F1 via “the Alpine route”, raising the possibility that Renault could sell the team to Hitech.

Mazepin’s father Dmitry has long been rumoured to be one of the investors in Hitech with Oakes, a Red Bull junior driver during his own racing career, currently mentoring Mr Mazepin’s nine-year-old son in karting.

Nikita Mazepin represented Hitech in Formula 3 and F2 during his own junior career before graduating to an F1 seat with Haas in 2021.

The Moscow driver failed to score a point across his only full season in F1, finishing no higher than 14th in a total of 21 starts, before parting company with the American team in early 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mazepin has persistently refused to rule out a potential return to F1 in the future, with the 25-year-old successfully having EU sanctions against him overturned in March this year in a significant boost to his comeback hopes.

He returned to racing in the LMP2 class of the Asian Le Mans Series in 2023, with Mazepin starting the 2024 campaign with two wins from three races.

A potential stumbling block to Mazepin’s grand prix return hopes is that he is no longer in possession of an F1 superlicence, which is necessary for drivers to compete at the elite level of motor racing.

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