Haas confirm Mazepin’s exit

The American F1 team have confirmed that Mazepin will not race for them in 2022.

American Formula One team Haas have announced that they have terminated their contracts with their title sponsor Uralkali and Russian driver Nikita Mazepin. The decision is the latest amongst growing sanctions against the Russian Federation and its athletes and companies worldwide amidst the country’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Ever since the onset of the invasion, Haas’ partnership with both Uralkali and Mazepin had been under doubt. Haas even decided to ditch the Uralkali branding on their race car for the final day of testing in Barcelona. Mazepin’s media commitments were also cancelled.
Uralkali had joined Haas at the start of the 2021 season. The Russian firm is owned by Nikita Mazepin’s father, Dmitry Mazepin, who is allegedly a close aide of Russian president Vladimir Putin. It was reported that Mazepin’s place as a driver in the team was linked to the Uralkali deal.

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The American team released a statement confirming Mazepin’s departure from the team, stating:
“Haas F1 Team has elected to terminate, with immediate effect, the title partnership of Uralkali, and the driver contract of Nikita Mazepin.
“As with the rest of the Formula 1 community, the team is shocked and saddened by the invasion of Ukraine and wishes for a swift and peaceful end to the conflict.”

Earlier in the week, the FIA had announced that Russian drivers would be allowed to race but would have to do so under a neutral flag. Formula One had already cancelled the upcoming season’s Russian Grand Prix, later going on to terminate the contract with the Russian Grand Prix promoters, removing the Russian race from the calendar altogether. Motorsport UK had also announced that Russian drivers will not be allowed to compete in the UK, which at the time meant that Mazepin would not have been able to race in Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
Mazepin’s debut season was less than ordinary to say the least, and although he and his fellow rookie teammate Mick Schumacher did not have the best machinery under them, his best result was P14, he failed to make it out of Q1 even once, and he was comprehensively beaten up by Schumacher throughout the season.
Haas have not yet confirmed who will be replacing Mazepin and partner Schumacher for the upcoming season. One of the favourites is their reserve driver, Pietro Fittipaldi, though the team could look outside their system as well, given how inexperienced Fittipaldi is; Haas would want to start the new era of racing on a proper note.