Guenther Steiner has revealed more details about the decision to sack Nikita Mazepin on the eve of the 2022 season.
Haas moved quickly to act as news broke of the Russian invasion. The teams were testing at the time, and overnight the team changed their livery to get rid of the colours of the Russian flag and run in a plain white and red paintjob.
And a few days later, the team revealed that they had cut ties with Uralkali, the Russian fertiliser firm owner by billionaire oligarch Dmitry Mazepin. They also replaced his son Nikita as a driver after one season, bringing back their former racer Kevin Magnussen to partner Mick Schumacher.
Reflecting on the team's actions a few months on, team principal Steiner revealed that the decision had been a simple one despite a lack of time to weigh up their options. "I was having breakfast with Gene when we both learned [of the invasion], so we knew what we needed to do and I knew that I had his backing," he told the Telegraph.
"The decision we had to make was defined by itself. We needed to make a change. We couldn't go on with this, what had happened with the invasion." Those comments are in sync with what he said back in March, when he said the situation has been untenable.
Axing Uralkali was a big decision for a Haas team which operates with a comparatively tiny budget, as it meant losing their main sponsor. But despite losing that important revenue stream, Steiner insists he never had any worries for the financial future of his team.
"It was more like keeping the team always informed," he added. "It was an important sponsor and a good sponsor, because they always paid their bills. But [we said] 'we will continue as planned'."
Earlier this month, Steiner indicated that the decision to axe Mazepin as a driver was beneficial to the team and to his team-mate Schumacher, who is a lot better off working with the more experienced Magnussen. "It's the best thing that could have happened to him," he said bluntly.
"He was very happy when I told him that we had signed Kevin, because Kevin is very collaborative. He looks after him, he tries to help him when he can, and he's not trying to fight him. Mick is very lucky to have a team-mate like Kevin. He can learn from him as a person, as a driver and by looking at his data. Mick is in a much better spot than last year."
