The American Formula 1 team Haas has decided to end “with immediate effect” to the partnership with its Russian title sponsor Uralkali and to the pilot contract of Nikita Mazepin, also Russian, due to the conflict in Ukraine, she announced on Saturday March 5.
“Like the rest of the Formula 1 community, the team is shocked and saddened by the invasion of Ukraine and wishes a speedy and peaceful end to the conflict,” wrote the team in a press release. The identity of Mazepin’s replacement was not immediately announced but should be before the second and final pre-season test in Bahrain from March 10-12.
TEAM STATEMENT #HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/5aEXLzYtmV
—Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 5, 2022
Nikita Mazepin, 23, is the son of Russian billionaire and oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, shareholder of the Uralkali group, which specializes in the production of potash, and his contract was linked to the sponsorship of the team. For the last day of the first pre-season tests in Barcelona on February 25, Haas had already removed the Russian colors of Uralkali which his single-seater usually wears.
This announcement is part of a series of measures taken by various international bodies against Russian sport, after Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine. The promoter of the Formula 1 world championship, Formula One, for its part announced on Thursday March 3 that it was definitively breaking its contract with the promoter of the Russian Grand Prix, whose 2022 edition was to be the last organized in Sochi before moving to Saint PETERSBOURG.
While several international federations have excluded Russian and Belarusian athletes from future competitions, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) has, for its part, decided to authorize Russian or Belarusian drivers to participate under a neutral flag in competitions that it regulates, like the F1.
Nevertheless, “no international competitions will take place in Russia and Belarus until further notice” and “no flag/symbol or anthem of Russia/Belarus will be used in international competitions until further notice”, she also said earlier this week.