Nikita Mazepin insists he is working towards a Formula 1 return – but clearly it won't be with Haas.
The Russian racer was sacked just weeks before the start of the 2022 season after his country invaded Ukraine. The FIA ruled he was allowed to race under a neutral flag, but Haas wanted nothing to do with him or his oligarch father, who had close ties to Vladimir Putin.
It was a bold decision for the team who, at the time, had the smallest budget in F1. Dmitry Mazepin's Uralkali was the team's main sponsor and so Haas lost out on a lot of money by making what they felt was the ethically correct choice.
Fortunately they did not suffer too much hardship and have since signed a new main sponsor, Moneygram, which has made them more financially competitive with the rest of the grid. With the benefit of hindsight, team principal Guenther Steiner knows the right choice was made.
"We couldn’t take any other decision after the invasion of Ukraine," he told Speedcafe. "Looking back, I think we did the right thing. It didn't have any [financial] impact but 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. There was never any looking back, just let's get the best out of it. We've got an opportunity. It was a challenge. But the challenge gave us an opportunity. Let's focus on that and let's keep going."
Mazepin has spent his unexpected year off back in Russia, where his opportunities to race have been limited. He took part in the Silk Way rally, but doesn't see himself having a future in that discipline and is targeting what looks like an unlikely return to F1.
"I did that out of pleasure and fortunately the pleasure led to victory," he told the Tass news agency. "But I don't see myself as a professional rally driver. Silk Way is a wonderful competition but for a non-rally driver to really prepare, you'd have to put everything else aside.
"Next year I will also compete for myself in a new discipline outside of our country, but so far there are no signatures. So I can't tell you about it. There is the desire, of course, to continue to compete in motorsport. My goal is to return to Formula 1 so that is the direction I will work in."
