“I think it would have been very difficult if Nikita and Mick had been in the team” – Haas boss believes the remarkable result in Bahrain would have been very difficult with Nikita Mazepin

Haas decided to terminate the contracts with Nikita Mazepin and title sponsor Uralkali following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Haas boss Guenther Steiner believes that if Nikita Mazepin had still been driving, the remarkable result in Bahrain would have been very difficult to achieve. Steiner replaced Mazepin with Kevin Magnussen and he went ahead to finish fifth in the race.

Following the new technical regulations, the Haas team has developed a strong car this season. Due to this, Magnussen not only finish fifth in the race, but he also qualified seventh and gave the team its best results in almost four years.

Asked whether Haas would still be competing for third in the constructors’ championship with Mazepin, Steiner said, “who knows.”

“For sure, bringing Kevin back showed what was possible. I think it would have been very difficult if Nikita and Mick had been in the team.”

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No madness at Haas

Despite having a strong start but Steiner insists that the team is not beyond control. For the first time in his F1 career, Schumacher came close to scoring his first point as he finished 11th in the race.

Given the result, the expectations have been raised from the American led team.

“It’s about what we can do, and we will do our best,” added Steiner. “Whatever comes out of it, we’ll do.”

“I’m not on the wave of expectation. That’s for other people, and I think before the first race they expected us to be last.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot of interest because of the result. Nobody expected what we did, but there’s no madness. We didn’t win a race”, before quickly adding with a chuckle, “Yet!”

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• Guenther Steiner
• Haas
• Kevin Magnussen
• Mick Schumacher
• Nikita Mazepin