On Thursday morning, Russia's president Vladimir Putin authorised a ‘special military operation’ in the east of Ukraine,𓆏 ordering for﷽ces and firing missiles in several cities.

As a result, sanctions have been put on Russia, while other sporting events such as the UEFA Champions League Final - which🥀 is set to take place in Saint Peter🥃sberg, could be moved to an alternative location.

F1 is set to race in Russia on September 23-25 at t🌃he Sochi Autodrom and home hero Mazepin remains confident the rac꧑e will go ahead.

“From the understanding that we’ve had with Formula 1, and r🃏ace is going ahead and you will surely see me there,” Mazepin said on Wednesday in Barcelona.

Mazepin🅺 was in F1 action for Haas on Wednesday as pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya got underway.

He wi🌃ll be back in action again on Thursday afternoon in the VF-22.

Despite the unrest in💙volving his home country, Mazepin insisted t💎hat it’s not proving to be a distraction.

“I’m not struggling at all, because I’ve always be💖en a big supporter of sports without politics,ꦡ” he added.

“And today I’m in Barcelona, I cannot tell you the excitement of driving the new car and the excitement of actually b🦄eing involved in developing𒉰 this new car and actually from seeing the pictures for a year and then seeing it in physical carbon copy of the pictures is great.

“So I’m just very happy to be in Barcelona and I hope these three days are longer because it’s a nice exper𒊎ience.”