Haas F1 Could Drop Nikita Mazepin, Uralkali

Haas F1 has a problem. It's no secret that second-year driver Nikita Mazepin is with the team because of the money he brings from a sponsor, Russian fertilizer company Uralkali. It is also no secret that Uralkali sponsors Haas F1 in part because Mazepin's father, Russian billionaire Dimitry Mazepin, owns 20 percent of the company through his own company, Uralchem. Now, with Russia having instigated a war with neighboring Ukraine over the past week, both Mazepin's funding and the seat it buys may be under immediate threat.

As RACER reported earlier today, Guenther Steiner said the team's relationship with Uralkali, and by extension its relationship with Mazepin, is in imminent danger. This news arrives as part of the aftershock from Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began yesterday. While a final decision will be made over the next week, early moves indicate that the relationship has already frayed significantly.

As part of the Uralkali sponsorship, the Haas F1 cars have been adorned in a livery based on the Russian flag since the beginning of the 2021 season. That livery came off the cars today, the first step in the Haas team's response to the Russian invasion. Uralkali's logos were also removed from both the cars and the team's haulers, leaving everything in a blank white livery for the final day of the week's preseason test at Barcelona.