Antonio Giovinazzi could possibly replace Haas’ Nikita Mazepin following Russia-Ukraine conflict
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Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has had its severe effects felt by the sports world too which has been reflected in major decisions taken by organizations like the FIA which scrapped the Russian Grand Prix from the 2022 calendar and the UEFA which shifted its Champions League’s final venue from St. Petersburg to Paris.
Similarly American racing team Haas showed contempt towards the conflict by taking its measures and dismissing Uralkali as their primary sponsor. Nikita Mazepin, one of the Haas drivers is the son of Dmitry who owns Uralkali. This further puts Mazepin’s future as an F1 driver under a lot of questions.
Haas’ Team Principal Guenther Steiner mentioned in a conversation with BBC after the pre-season testing in Barcelona that Mazepin’s future needs to be “resolved”, saying there are “governments involved and I have no power over them and we need to see how the situation develops in Ukraine”. He also added that if such a situation arises that Mazepin is forbidden from driving in F1 for the next one or two seasons, their immediate choice for his replacement would be Pietro Fittipaldi, Haas’ reserve driver.
Questions regarding Mazepin’s replacement
“Obviously, he is with us for a few years, and then we will see what we do next,” said Steiner in reference to Pietro. “He knows the team, he knows the car. To jump in for one day to the other, there is nobody better than Pietro around at the moment.”
Fittipaldi has driven for Haas on two occasions, replacing Romain Grosjean at the 2020 Sakhir and Abu Dhabi races. He was P20 in both races. It is this very fact that has Formula One pundits assuming that there might be more than one option for Mazepin’s replacement.
Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi, according to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com, could perhaps fill in. Giovinazzi earlier served as a works driver alongside Kimi Raikonnen for Alfa Romeo in the 2021 season of Formula One. The 28-year-old Italian is now racing in Formula E for Dragon/Penske Autosport, but his contract includes an opt-out clause that lets him transfer to Formula 1 if a spot opens up. That is “far more likely,” according to Motorsport.com, with the “assistance of Ferrari” pushing Giovinazzi to the front of the Haas replacement queue.
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Rishika Saha
(445 Articles Published)