Publisher apologises and sacks editor over ‘tasteless’ Schumacher AI ‘interview’ · RaceFans

In brief

Editor sacked for “tasteless” Schumacher article

German publishing company Funke Mediengruppe has apologised to the Schumacher family after one of its magazines published a fake interview with seven-times world championship Michael Schumacher which had been generated using an AI chatbot.

A representative of the Schumacher family confirmed to RaceFans that they planned to pursue legal action after the ‘interview’ was published in Die Aktuelle magazine. Schumacher suffered brain injuries in a skiing accident in 2013 and has not appeared publicly since. Funke managing director Bianca Pohlmann said the publisher offered its apologies to the family for running the article.

“This tasteless and misleading article should never have been published,” Pohlmann said. “It does not meet the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publisher like Funke.”

Funke also confirmed that Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who had edited the magazine since 2009, had been removed from her position as a consequence.

Mazepin takes Canadian government to court over sanctions

Former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin is suing the the Canadian government in a federal court over sanctions placed on him last year in a bid to help revive his F1 career.

The Canadian Press reports that Mazepin, who is Russian and was dropped by Haas following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, is taking the Canadian government to federal court to remove him from the nation’s sanctions list. Mazepin’s father, Dmitry, was also sanctioned as head of the petrochemical company Uralkali, who were also dropped as Haas sponsors.

Court submissions reportedly claim that Mazepin considers his case urgent as “it will be extremely difficult — if not impossible — for him to be recruited again as an F1 driver or as a driver in other motorsport championships” if the sanctions are not dropped.

Mazepin competed in February’s Asian Le Mans series with 99 Racing in the LMP2 class.

Formula E delays Attack Charge pit stops to 2024

Formula E will delay its plans to introduce pit stops to ‘recharge’ cars during races later this season, the series’ leadership has confirmed.

The regulations for the 2023 season – the first with Formula E’s Gen3 car – included…