If Mazepin gets fired at Haas
Will Formula 1 loser now become Schumacher’s teammate?
02/28/2022 10:26 am
In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Formula 1 racing team Haas is examining the relationship with sponsor Uralkali. The future of Mick Schumacher’s teammate Nikita Mazepin is also in question. There is already speculation about a possible successor to the Russian.
You don’t just become a Formula 1 driver because you have talent. This was also shown once again with Nikita Mazepin. The Russian joined Haas in 2021 alongside mining company Uralkali. His father Dmitri Mazepin is a co-owner and generously financed his Formula 1 career. This season, Nikita Mazepin was supposed to start his second season in the premier class alongside Mick Schumacher, but given the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that is no longer certain.
Haas team boss Günther Steiner stated on the sidelines of the test drives at Barcelona that the future of the Russian “must be clarified”. In response to the Russian invasion, the racing team in Spain had refrained from any advertising for Uralkali, and the F1 racing car started in white. All references to the title sponsor were also removed from the trucks and in the pit lane. Haas is now examining how to proceed.
Mazepin had said on Friday, “I have no control. I have chosen to focus on what I can control by working hard and doing my best for my Haas team.” Steiner had explained: “Not everything depends on us. Governments are involved.” In addition to the open legal issue with Uralkali, Mazepin could also have problems entering certain countries. It will probably come down to this: If the largest mineral fertilizer manufacturer in Russia has no future at Haas, there will be no future for the 22-year-old Mazepin either.
“There is currently no one better than Pietro”
In reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, Haas has a racing driver from its own ranks who could take over the cockpit directly. Günther Steiner also confirmed considerations like these: “He’s been with us for a few years and then we’ll see what we do next.” Fittipaldi knows the team, “there is currently no one better than Pietro to jump into a car from one day to the next”. Fittipaldi was at the wheel of the post-season test in Abu Dhabi.
The grandson of two-time Formula 1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi has been associated with Haas since 2018, took part in the Young Driver Test at the time and was a test driver a year later. He has mostly spent the past two years at the local races so that he can step in spontaneously. At the end of 2020 he briefly took over the cockpit from Romain Grosjean, when he only survived his dramatic fire accident in Bahrain with a lot of luck and modern technology. Fittipaldi drove the last two races of the season in Sachir and Abu Dhabi.
However, as the portal scuderiafans.com reports, the 25-year-old is not the preferred candidate for the US racing team. According to this, Antonio Giovinazzi is said to be at the top of the list, who knows Formula 1 very well as a driver for Sauber (2017), when he came to two races as a reserve driver, and Alfa Romeo (2019-2021). The Italian has been racing in Formula E for Dragon/Penske Autosport since the 2021/22 season and is also a reserve driver for Ferrari.
For Giovinazzi it would be a quick return to the premier motorsport class after Alfa Romeo dropped him after last season. The Italian had to make way for rookie Guanyu Zhou. The 22-year-old is the first Chinese Formula 1 driver, Alfa Romeo had also and above all engineered the deal from a commercial point of view. Giovinazzi was bitterly disappointed: Formula 1 was “talent, machine, risk, speed,” he wrote on social networks. But she can also be “ruthless when money dictates the rules.” A possible regular place at Haas should reconcile him.