"Jeezoz Christ." The first two words written by Guenther Steiner in reaction to the news that Ukraine had been invaded by Russia last year were in-keeping with the Haas team boss' blunt nature – and accent.
Steiner's new book Surviving to Drive: A Year Inside Formula 1 will hit the shelves later this week. Written in the style of a diary, the 58-year-old reacts to everything that happened to his team in the 2022 season.
But there was plenty of drama before any racing got under way. In an advance copy of the book, seen by Mirror Sport, Steiner writes about the challenges facing his team before any of the competitive action, including what needed to be done when Russian forces crossed into Ukrainian territory last February.
After all, one of his drivers was Moscow-born Nikita Mazepin. The racer's father Dmitry also had a company, Uralkali, which was the team's title sponsor. Mazepin Sr also happened to have particularly close ties with Vladimir Putin – putting Haas in a difficult situation.
"I woke up to the news that Russia has now invaded Ukraine," wrote Steiner on February 24. "Oh great! I obviously feel very sorry for the people who are directly affected by this but I can only look after my own ship, you know?
"When it comes to motorsport, all eyes are on us at the moment. I didn’t even turn my phone on until after I got to the track this morning as I knew it would be ringing off the hook. When I eventually turned it on there were over a hundred texts and about seventy voice messages.
"I had to have a very difficult conversation with Nikita Mazepin, our driver. I know that his father, Dmitry, who is the majority shareholder of our main sponsor, Uralkali, is close to Vladimir Putin and, at the end of the day, I don't want our team to be associated with someone who starts a f***ing war, you know?
"Nikita said that he wasn't interested in politics and just wanted to drive. I understand and appreciate what he's saying but it's a bit bigger than that. It's so difficult for everyone.
"I went to my office for a board meeting. They wanted to know what I thought, as team principal, so I told them. 'Drop the Uralkali branding', I said. 'Change the livery to white and tell the whole f***ing world that is what we have done'. Every single board member agreed with me and so the meeting was over in a couple of minutes.
"There was no debate to be had. It needs to happen for the good of Haas and for the good of the sport. If we retained Uralkali as a sponsor and had them on our livery we'd be crucified by the media, the fans and the FIA. It would be suicide and I've got enough on my plate!"
Haas ran a plain white livery during testing the following day and, later, announced that both Mazepin and Uralkali had been axed. "On Friday the 4th, [team owner] Gene and I made the decision to officially sever ties with Nikita and Urakali. It obviously wasn't a difficult decision to make but, before letting them know, we had to do a lot of work with the FIA.
"It had got to a point where our other sponsors were going to leave Haas if we didn’t act now and had we waited any longer we could have ended up with no sponsors at all."
Pietro Fittipaldi was – and still is – the reserve driver for Haas, but did not get the call up to replace Mazepin. Explaining why, Steiner wrote: "[He] would seem like the obvious choice but, despite making a couple of starts for use replacing Romain [Grosjean], he would basically be a rookie.
"What I think we need now more than anything is experience – and Gene feels the same. The final decision will land with him but at the moment there's no obvious successor." And it was the owner who came up with the solution in the end, as Steiner goes on to explain.
"Gene Haas likes to lob out a good idea sometimes and this morning, when we had our meeting about who would replace Nikita, he surpassed himself. 'How about getting [Kevin] Magnussen back?' he said. 'Do you think he'd do it?' 'Jeezoz Christ, Gene,' I said to him. 'You're a f***ing genius, you know that?'"
Magnussen agreed to return to Haas after a year out of F1 and went on to score strongly on his second debut with the team. He also became the first ever driver to secure a pole position for the team, later in the season in Brazil, and continues to race for the American outfit this year.
