Haas F1 team insist that they’ll be fine without Nikita Mazepin and Uralkali, and will announce their new driver next week.
The start of the 2022 season was going to be tough for all teams owing to the regulation changes. However for Haas, the problems are bigger and more widespread.
After Russia launched offensive by invading Ukraine two weeks ago, Haas wasted no time in removing all Uralkali (a Russian company) branding from their team garages and cars. The Fertilizer company owned by Dimitri Mazepin was their title sponsor since 2021.
A week later, Haas officially announced that they had parted ways with Uralkali, and also Dimitri Mazepin’s son Nikita. Nikita Mazepin had a very underwhelming debut season in 2021, finishing 21st in the standings behind Robert Kubica, who only took part in two races.
Mazepin’s departure from the team didn’t surprise many. Most of the F1 community felt that his presence only came with the amount of money Uralkali brought in. With the company and their money gone, Mazepin’s talent wasn’t enough to keep him in F1.
Team owner Gene Haas assured fans that they have enough money to comfortably continue with their F1 journey. In an interview with the Associated Press, he shed light on the team’s further plan of action.
“There was a lot of intense criticism about the Ukrainian invasion and it was just getting overwhelming,” said Haas. We can’t deal with all that, our other sponsors can’t deal with all that.”
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Haas have several candidates to choose from to replace Nikita Mazepin
One of the biggest questions following Mazepin’s departure was about his replacement. Team principal Guenther Steiner insisted that they would turn to reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, as he knew the car well.
The likes of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kevin Magnussen have also been liked to the seat. Haas went on to say that they haven’t come to a decision yet, but are in course to do so.
“We’re in the process of looking at several candidates, we’ll see who is available and what we have to deal with, but we’ll have somebody by Wednesday,” he said. “I think we’d obviously like to get someone with a bit more actual experience. We just have to see what’s available.”
The American team owner went on to dismiss rumors about his team becoming ‘Russian’ since Uralkali’s onboarding. The 69-year old is adamant that their primary identity remained American, even though they used Uralkali’s branding.
“Haas has always been the major, primary sponsor, I don’t know why people said it became a Russian team. Haas Automation was always on the car,” he continued.
“We’re good. We’re fine. We’d like more money, of course, but we’re fine,” he added. “This just gives us a bigger negative number.”
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