Nikita Mazepin is facing an uncertain future with Haas due to the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Thursday evening, the American outfit removed the red and blue colours from its identity as well as the branding of Uralkali, the company linked to Nikita’s billionaire father Dimitry Mazepin, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday to discuss the sanctions being imposed by various countries in the wake of the escalating war.
This, however, was only a temporary measure, with Haas boss Guenther Steiner confirming a final decision on the fate of their partnership with Uralkali has yet to be made.
“We removed it [Uralkali branding] yesterday, we have to sort out all the legal stuff, which I cannot speak about, next week,” he told the media on Friday.
“At the moment, I said we’re not going to do it today. We made the decision yesterday with our team partners. This is what we’re going to do. I need to work on the rest next week.”
On the topic of Mazepin himself, Steiner also acknowledged his place was no longer guaranteed for the 2022 Formula 1 season.
“It needs to be resolved,” he said.
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“Not everything depends on us here what is happening. There are governments involved, I have no power over them, and we also need to see how the situation develops in Ukraine.”
The prospect of Haas splitting from their main backer also leads to questions over the financial future of the team, but Steiner insisted there were no problems on that front.
“There is no setback for the competition side because of this, none at all,” he said. “We just need to go through the commercial issues. As I said before, we will do that in the next weeks.
“It has no [impact] on the team, how we are running it or how we are doing, how we plan this season.
“There are more ways to get the funding. There is no issue with that one.”
On Friday, F1 also called off this year’s Russian Grand Prix planned for September, citing that it was “impossible” to hold the race “in the current situation”.
Whether that leaves the door open to a possible reversal if the Ukraine conflict ends is uncertain.
