Formula 1: Haas drop major Nikita Mazepin hint amid rumors

All signs point to Haas sacking Nikita Mazepin prior to the 2022 Formula 1 season, including a major hint they shared on Twitter.

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Haas Formula 1 team made the decision to completely strip their cars — and pretty much everything else to do with the team — of Uralkali branding for the third and final day of the preseason testing session at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last week.

They committed to doing the same for the upcoming preseason testing session at Bahrain International Circuit from Thursday, March 10 to Saturday, March 12.

This sequence of events sparked rumors that Uralkali, which signed with Haas as their new title sponsor ahead of the 2021 season, could be dropped by Haas before the 2022 season began. This move would inherently include the sacking of Nikita Mazepin after just one year.

Uralchem holds a controlling stake in the Russian fertilizer company, and Dmitry Mazepin, Nikita’s father, is the CEO. He has direct ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and met with him just after the invasion began.

So even after the FIA ruled that Russian and Belarusian drivers can still compete in Formula 1 following the request of Ukraine’s motor racing federation to ban them, Mazepin wasn’t completely out of the woods.

And now it looks like the 22-year-old Russian has indeed competed in Formula 1 for the final time.

Multiple sources have reported that Haas plan to confirm his departure and announce that reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who made two starts for the team at the end of the 2020 season for the team as the replacement for Romain Grosjean following his fiery crash, is set to replace him alongside Mick Schumacher for the upcoming season.

And you might go as far as saying that Haas have confirmed it themselves, as they dropped a major hint on Twitter on Thursday, just one week ahead of when the final preseason testing session is scheduled to begin.

The significance of this post goes beyond the fact that Mazepin’s car isn’t featured in the picture. They also easily could have shared a picture of Schumacher’s car, but they didn’t; in fact, they shared a picture from 2020, which was before Uralkali became the team’s title sponsor, and they shared a picture of the #51 car. The number 51 belongs to Fittipaldi.

So expect the 25-year-old Brazilian to replace Mazepin behind the wheel of the second VF-22 for the 2022 season, and without sponsorship from Uralkali. The 2022 season is scheduled to get underway on Sunday, March 20 with the Bahrain Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit.