Formula 1: Former Haas sponsor takes parting shot after Nikita Mazepin decision

Former Haas sponsor Jack & Jones distanced themselves from the team and incoming driver Nikita Mazepin after it was confirmed that he would not be cut for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

With Kevin Magnussen set to be released by Haas following the 2020 Formula 1 season, his fourth consecutive season with the sport’s lone American team, Haas were always slated to lose Jack & Jones as one of their sponsors.

Jack & Jones is a menswear brand of clothing company Bestseller A/S, which is based in Magnussen’s home country of Denmark.

It was confirmed in October that neither Magnussen nor teammate Romain Grosjean, who had competed for Haas since they entered Formula 1 in 2016, would be back with the team in 2021.

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It was later confirmed that the pair would be replaced by Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher and fellow Formula 2 driver Nikita Mazepin.

Mazepin, whose racing career is funded by his billionaire father Dmitry, has a history of behavioral problems both on and off the track.

So when he shared a video on his Instagram story of himself reaching for a woman’s shirt and grabbing her breasts, there were naturally calls for Haas, which called the video “abhorrent”, to fire the 21-year-old Russian.

The team noted that they would deal with the matter internally, and that is exactly what they did. Team principal Guenther Steiner even stated that maybe the public “will never know what was dealt with, and what are the circumstances”, because he could keep it all private.

It would be hard to keep a firing private, and it was later confirmed that the team would not be axing Mazepin before the upcoming season.

After this was confirmed, Jack & Jones took a parting shot a Haas and Mazepin, directed at the team’s decision to keep the rookie on the team.

The 2021 Formula 1 season is scheduled to begin on Sunday, March 21, although the season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit could end up being postponed as a result of coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions in Melbourne, Australia.

Such a postponement would result in the Bahrain Grand Prix becoming the season opener on Sunday, March 28 at Bahrain International Circuit.