The Haas Formula One team has terminated the contract of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and title sponsor Uralkali.
The decision comes amid Russia’s continued invasion of Ukraine and means no Russians have signed up to drive F1 ahead of the new season.
“The Haas F1 team has decided to terminate, with immediate effect, Uralkali’s title partnership and Nikita Mazepin’s driving contract,” the team said in a statement. “As with the rest of the Formula One community, the team is shocked and saddened by the invasion of Ukraine and wishes the conflict a quick and peaceful end.”
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, has left open the possibility Mazepin races in F1 this year when they announced earlier this week that Russian and Belarusian drivers would be allowed to continue competing in international motorsport as long as they race under a neutral flag and agree not to express any displeasure. any support for Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
On Saturday, however, Haas announced that the agreement with Mazepin and Uralkali had been terminated, and the team said news of a replacement driver would come next week.
Mazepin joined Haas in early 2021 as part of a funding agreement with Russian fertilizer company Uralkali, which is partly owned by his father Dmitry through his company Uralchem.
Dmitry Mazepin is one of the business leaders who met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow last week to discuss sanctions on the country following the invasion of Ukraine.
The deal with Uralkali helped Haas secure financing ahead of the 2021 season and resulted in an ownership sponsorship agreement that saw the car painted in the colors of the Russian flag.
On the final day of this year’s first pre-season testing in Barcelona last week, Uralkali paint and branding were removed from the car, although Mazepin continued to drive the VF22 as planned.
Speaking on the last day of the test last week, after the change of competition mode, Guenther Steiner, the Haas team principal, said the team should be able to survive without the Mazepins’ money.
“Financially, we’re fine,” Steiner said last week. “It’s not about the team’s deployment, how we’re running it, how we’re doing, how we plan the season.
“There are more ways to get funding. So there’s no problem with that.”
F1 announced on Thursday that it has terminate the agreement to hold a race in Russiawhich means the country won’t host a major tournament in the near future.
