Guenther Steiner looks back at sacking Nikita Mazepin from Haas: “I think we did the right thing”
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The Haas F1 Racing Team has been through a lot in the last year and it has all begun with a shocking announcement that they would be parting ways with their chief sponsor Uralkali amidst the Ukraine-Russia war. Uralkali is a company with Russian origin, and so was Haas’ former recruit Nikita Mazepin. Mazepin and Uralkali came hand in hand to Haas at the beginning of 2021, and the American team was happy for the package as they needed funds for their developments and they also needed new racers to replace Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who were let off from the team after 2020.
But only a year after Haas’ deal with Uralkali and Mazepin, the team cut off all bonds with the both of them as they wanted to have no relations with any Russian-origin entity. And this made way for Kevin Magnussen, whom Haas had fired a year back, to come out of his Formula 1 exile and join the grid once again as Haas’ newest recruit for 2022. Kevin’s hiring worked out for Haas in ways that even the team had not imagined about. The Danish came back in full form and delivered some great performances throughout the year.
But Guenther Steiner had never really reflected upon his team’s decision to cut ties with Nikita Mazepin until recently. In an interview, the Italian Team Principal talked about how Haas was in the middle of a huge political agenda, and they saw no other way but to let go of Nikita Mazepin because of the Ukraine-Russia war. But now, after Kevin Magnussen’s brilliant results, Steiner had realised that they had taken the right decision afterall.
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Guenther Steiner explains whether dropping the sponsorship from Uralkali had any impact on Haas’ development
Haas is one of smallest teams in Formula 1 because of the lack of funds and any good sponsors. And in 2022, they entered the season after dropping their title sponsor Uralkali, so they did not have any other company to replace the Russian fertilizer-producing company with.
While speaking on whether their decision to drop Uralkali affected Haas’ development, Guenther Steiner said, “Not really. We couldn’t take any other decision after the invasion of Ukraine. I think looking back, I think we did the right thing. But no, it didn’t have any impact [financially]. It certainly impacted the beginning [of the season]. There was a lot of work to be done to get back to where we wanted to be. But otherwise, once we got racing in Bahrain, you see how fast life in F1 is.”
In the upcoming 2023 Formula 1 season, Haas will come out with yet another new player onboard with them and this time, Mick Schumacher will not be present in his black and red overalls. In the place of the young German, there will be Nico Hulkenberg, an extremely experienced racer who had to sit outside F1 for a few seasons due to the lack of a regular racing seat for him. Now it only remains to be seen how the American team fares next season with their new racer, Hulkenberg, against all their rival teams.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)