Formula 1 announcement confirms recent rumors

Nikita Mazepin and Uralkali have both been dropped by Haas ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season, confirming recent speculation.

Even since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there have been serious doubts about the futures of Haas title sponsor Uralkali and driver Nikita Mazepin in Formula 1.

Nikita’s father, Dmitry, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin shortly after the invasion began, and the two have been closely linked before. Dmitry is the CEO of Uralchem, which holds a controlling stake in Uralkali. Their funding is the primary reason why the younger Mazepin landed his seat before the 2021 season.

Haas stripped the Uralkali branding from their cars ahead of the third and final day of preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last week, and they confirmed plans to do the same for next week’s test at Bahrain International Circuit, just one week prior to the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix at the same venue.

At this point, it was effectively a foregone conclusion that both Uralkali and Mazepin would be out before the 2022 season began.

It emerged earlier this week that Haas did, in fact, plan to confirm that they would be moving on from both the Russian fertilizer company and the 22-year-old Russian before what would have been their second season in Formula 1, and that was confirmed this morning.

Mazepin loses his ride having scored 0 career points, recording 22 spins in 21 races. He missed the 2021 season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit due to COVID-19 protocols.

His only finish higher than a 17th place result was a 14th place effort in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku City Circuit. This only came after multiple contenders, including championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, fell out of contention.

He officially finished in 21st place in the 2021 driver standings, despite the fact that only 19 other drivers competed full-time. He was scored behind Robert Kubica, who made just two replacement starts for Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo.

He infamously recorded the “fastest lap” in the two-lap procession behind the safety car that was the rained-out Belgian Grand Prix at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It will forever remain fitting that he recorded the fastest lap in a two-lap race which took four hours to run.

Haas have not confirmed Mazepin’s replacement. While they have indicated that it will be reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi, who made two starts at the end of the 2020 season as Romain Grosjean’s replacement, no formal announcement has been made, and there are still several options available.