Formula 1 season starts in March
US racing team looks forward to the Russians
03/06/2022, 12:30 p.m
Putin’s war has also left its mark on Formula 1. Laid off last season, Mick Schumacher’s team dominated the headlines. The US racing team parted ways with pilot Nikita Mazepin and the Russian main sponsor. The gaze is now forward.
Mick Schumacher’s Formula 1 team Haas cut ties with Russia. The US racing team announced on Saturday the separation from Russian stable rival Nikita Mazepin and Russian main sponsor Uralkali with immediate effect. Haas has not yet named Schumacher’s new teammate, but team boss Günther Steiner recently named American-Brazilian replacement driver Pietro Fittipaldi as the first replacement for the Moscow driver.
“Like the rest of the Formula 1 community, the team is shocked and saddened by the invasion of Ukraine and wishes for a quick and peaceful end to the conflict,” Haas announced, ending the chapter that was a burden for the team with Russian money.
“We tried to keep the focus on racing. Of course, that was anything but easy with all the terrible events in Ukraine,” Schumacher told “Bild am Sonntag”. Nevertheless, he does not regret his signature with the US racing team. “No, not at all. I’m happy here and get along with everyone. That’s not to be taken for granted,” said the son of Formula 1 record world champion Michael Schumacher.
In the week before last, after the Russian attack on Ukraine, Haas team boss Steiner left open the future of Mazepin as a driver and of lender Uralkali as lender. Nikita Mazepin’s father, Dmitri, is a co-owner of the Russian mining company that funded the young driver’s journey to Haas. Steiner had announced that “all the legal questions” would have to be clarified first.
Mazepin wants to say more soon
Nikita Mazepin, like Schumacher, had his debut season in Formula 1 in 2021. This year he would only have been allowed to start as a neutral athlete under the “FIA flag”. In addition, the 23-year-old should have signed a code of conduct that documents, among other things, a clear distancing from Russia’s actions.
Mazepin wrote on Instagram that he was “very disappointed” and underlined his hope “that we can all be together again in better times.” While he understands the difficulties, Mazepin continued. The Fia’s decision and its continued willingness to accept the conditions were “completely ignored” in the unilateral step. “I will have more to say in the coming days.”
Haas will be quick to announce Schumacher’s new teammate. After all, the decisive tests in Bahrain are due next weekend, where the first Grand Prix of 2022 will also be held on March 20th. Steiner recently announced that if Mazepin were to leave, “the first call” would go to backup driver Pietro Fittipaldi, grandson of two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi.
What the loss of the Russian financier means financially for Haas cannot yet be foreseen. Formula 1 had previously distanced itself from Russia. She canceled the Grand Prix in Russia this year, and the location will be completely removed from the racing calendar.