Haas boss Guenther Steiner has confirmed he informed Nikita Mazepin of his exit from the Formula 1 team in writing.
Less than two weeks ago, the Russian driver, and his sponsor Uralkali, were dropped by the American outfit in response to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Mazepin has since criticised Haas for “ignoring” his efforts to cooperate and how he was axed, stating he was only informed when the press release was issued and “deserved more support”.
Now Steiner has acknowledged he “didn’t talk” to Nikita about his departure and instead, only contacted him “in writing”.
“You’re always sorry when you have to do something like that,” he added to German broadcaster RTL.
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“The external circumstances, which neither I nor he can change, are just the way they are. You have to live with it and move on. I see it as part of life.
“You have to draw the conclusions.
“The last two or three weeks have been quite exhausting and tedious. [But] the worst should be over. It can only go up. We are always good for a surprise when there is drama!”
Haas has since confirmed the return of Kevin Magnussen alongside Mick Schumacher for the 2022 season, with the Dane, who drove for the team between 2017-2020, the only man they considered.
“I never thought it goes sideways,” Steiner said of the negotiations. “I always worked on it actively. I didn’t speak with anybody else, with any other driver, I was just confident that it will happen.
Reunited ?#HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/LhDtaOp0Q5
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 9, 2022
“Obviously then there were a few difficulties, but when you do any deal at this level you know that it will be difficult, especially if we are involved, everything is more difficult!
“But then you just keep on working on it and solve the difficulties and find solutions.
“I mean, once we decided, I wouldn’t say it went smooth, there were a few hurdles in the way, but we just got them out of the way.”
Those hurdles were likely Magnussen’s previous commitments in sportscars with Chip Ganassi and Peugeot, but the Haas chief felt a return to F1 would be too appealing.
“I was discussing with Gene who to put in the car, who’s available. The same old story, ups and downs, and lefts and rights,” Steiner explained.
“Kevin’s name came up, and Gene said, ‘Do you think Kevin would come back?’ And I said ‘I have no idea, I don’t know, but I can call him up.’ And I called him up, and he said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.’
“I think you know a person pretty well after four years you work with him, and we didn’t even have to discuss it.
“We said, ‘We’re going to do this,’ it was both ways ‘Yes, we are going to do this.’ And that was that. It was pretty simplistic.
“There was no negotiation or anything. It’s like I know what he wants, I know what we want, and it’s the same thing. We are here to get better again, and we need him to help us to do that like he did last time.”
