Haas driver Nikita Mazepin has suddenly landed in a grim situation with no certainty about his Formula 1 future. The team’s relations with Russian firm Uralkali overshadowed the pre-season testing for Mazepin in light of the Russia-Ukraine situation. Nikita’s father, Dmitry Mazepin, funds the team through Uralkali as a title sponsor. Now, in these extraordinary circumstances, the team might have to cut short this lucrative deal.

If and when that happens, it will leave Nikita Mazepin out of an F1 seat. The Russian driver donned the Haas outfit in 2021 as a rookie. It was a tough first outing for Mazepin as the draggy Haas car left him stranded at the back of the grid for most of the season. The team finished last in the constructors’ standings with both drivers’ still searching for their first points.

Haas put little effort into designing their 2021 car, which was evident from the rough performance. This was for the simple reason that the team was working day in day out on their next-generation 2022 car. However, in the initial inputs from the pre-season tests, the team is still struggling with mileage issues.

The biggest talking point in the F1 community surrounding this situation is the potential replacement of Nikita Mazepin if he is sacked from the team.

Antonio Giovinazzi can be thrown into the mix to replace Nikita Mazepin

F1 has decided to call off the 2022 Russian GP that was originally scheduled in September, and the Haas team have been in talks for the last few days. Notably, they ran with a plain livery on days 2 and 3 of testing as they got rid of the Uralkali branding on their cars amidst controversial circumstances.

Team Principal Guenther Steiner made it clear that reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi will be the first choice to replace Nikita if the situation demands it. However, F1 Journalist Roberto Chinchero believes Ferrari reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi might fill in for Mazepin.

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“Haas is considering replacing him with Giovinazzi if he parted ways with Mazepin. Giovinazzi fits Haas’ current needs; He has ties to Ferrari; he raced in F1 last year. So it’s a good option in the short run. Pietro Fittipaldi is still among the options,” read a tweet from Kemal Şengül, Motorsport Turkey chief editor.

“Information comes from @RobChinchero who was the first to announce Williams’ interest in Albon last year 👊,” added Şengül.

Giovinazzi had an impressive 2021 F1 season but the Alfa Romeo team decided to replace him with rookie Guanyu Zhao. However, this might be his golden chance to take the wheel of an F1 car this season, which looked seemingly impossible for the Italian driver.

Tell us what you think about this entire situation in the comments below.

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