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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Liam Llewellyn

Haas F1 team issue statement and remove Russian sponsor from Nikita Mazepin's car

Haas released a statement after dropping Russian sponsor Uralkali's logo from their F1 car in Barcelona.

The team’s car boasts a livery of red, white and blue, but they have opted to run an all-white car on the final day of testing after Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on Ukraine.

Haas, who were the first team to launch their their 2022 F1 car on February 4, wrote: "Haas F1 Team will present its VF-22 in a plain white livery, minus Uralkali branding, for the third and final day of track running at Circuit de Barcelona on Friday 25 February.

"Nikita Mazepin will drive as planned in the morning session with Mick Schumacher taking over in the afternoon.

Haas will remove a Russian sponsor from Nikita Mazepin's car (GETTY/Mark Thompson)

“No further comment will be made at this time regarding team partner agreements."

Russian Mazepin will hope to improve on a poor debut F1 season with Haas, after he finished bottom of the 2021 drivers' standings without scoring a single point.

Ukraine was attacked on Thursday morning as Putin’s Russia launched a "full-scale invasion".

So far 40 people have died and according to Oleksii Arestovich, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, dozens of people have been wounded.

Explosions have been heard across the country, in cities such as Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and the capital city of Kyiv.

Around 10,000 troops moved into two breakaway areas of Ukraine - Donbas and Luhansk - that Putin recognised as independent states in the most aggressive move in recent times.

Due to the conflict, F1 fans have called for the 2022 Russian Grand Prix to be removed from the race calendar.

Four-time F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, says he will not be present should the planned Sochi GP go ahead.

"I should not go, I will not go," he said. "People are being killed for stupid reasons. A very strange and mad leadership."

Nikita Mazepin will hope to improve on a poor debut F1 season with Haas (XPB Images/PA Images)

Current world champion Max Verstappen also hinted he may not travel, should the race go ahead.

"When a country is at war, it is not right to race there," he said.

The Russian Grand Prix is scheduled to be Round 17 of the 2022 F1 World Championship, and take place on the weekend of 23-25 September.

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