Mazepin has launched an appeal to Britain’s High Court in a bid to start talks with Formula One teams over the possibility of returning to the sport next year.

The 24-year-old had been racing for the Haas team, but his contract was terminated in March last year following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The team had been financed by the Uralchem Group, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of nitrogen, potash and complex fertilisers which was founded by his father Dmitry Mazepin, a Belarusian-Russian oligarch.

Nikita and Dimitry Mazepin were both sanctioned by the British and Canadian Governments, as well as the European Union.

Last month, the EU General Court lifted its restrictions, although Nikita Mazepin remains banned from competing for a team that has links to his father or anyone already sanctioned by the EU.

Mazepin has also applied to the Canadian Federal Court in an effort to revoke the country’s sanctions against him and is now seeking to overturn Britain’s ruling which imposed a travel ban and asset freeze.

Barrister Rachel Scott, who is representing Mazepin, told the British courts in a written document that the driver wants his challenge to be heard as a matter of "urgency".

"The UK sanctions to which he has been made subject, alongside the imposition of restrictive measures at EU level, effectively ended his racing career," said Scott in a report by British newspaper The Metro.

"He missed the 2022 season and, almost certainly, the 2023 season and, whilst those sanctions are in place, no Formula 1 team will take him on as a test, reserve or full driver.

"The claimant will, in effect, be unable to negotiate a place on a Formula One team for 2024 unless he is free to travel to and from the UK to attend negotiations at teams’ bases in the UK, bearing in mind that seven of the ten teams are based in the UK.

"Negotiations to join a Formula 1 team usually begin in May or June of the previous year.

"Thereafter he must be able to enter the UK, not just for the British Formula One race, but for briefings, ergonomics design work, training and attending the team’s base."

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) ruled in March 2022 that Russian and Belarusian individual drivers could only compete under a neutral flag if they signed a document effectively denouncing their country's actions.

The International Olympic Committee Executive Committee has recommended that competitors from Russia and Belarus should be allowed to return as individual neutral athletes provided they do not support the war in Ukraine and are not affiliated to the military.

Several sports have since adhered to those recommendations but the FIA has ruled its rules would remain in place.

"One of the consequences of the decisions taken a year ago is that Russian and Belarusian riders, teams and officials will not be able to take part in any FIA events until further notice," the FIA told Russia’s official state news agency TASS.

"[We will continue to] monitor the situation."

Dmitry Mazepin who, according to Forbes is worth $800 million (£667 million/€754 million), is considered to be part of Vladimir Putin's inner-circle.

His son endured a tough single season in Formula One, ending the 2021 season in 21st place and without a single point to his name.