Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes Nikita Mazepin 'merits' being in F1 after the Russian driver was axed by Haas ahead of the 2022 season.
Mazepin, 23, debuted for the German team last year and on the whole endured a difficult time, failing to pick up a single championship point.
His tough campaign was compounded when he missed the final race of 2021 Abu Dhabi, having tested positive for Covid-19.
Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he had been permitted to compete this season under a neutral banner, but only if he signed a document agreeing not to support the conflict.
Haas also cut ties with title sponsor Uralkali, a chemical company that Mazepin's father partly owns, and removed the colour red from their car livery.
And the pressure then began to mount on team manager Guenther Steiner when UK Motorsport issued a blanket ban on any Russian or Belarusian drivers taking part in the British Grand Prix in Silverstone in July, effectively ruling Mazepin out.
On Saturday, Haas inevitably announced they would be terminating his contract with immediate effect, a decision which has left Wolff with mixed feelings.
'I'm in two minds because for Nikita himself he is a guy that merits to be in Formula 1, he can drive," the Austrian told BloombergTV.
"You can see that some of the sports' leagues have decided to allow Russian athletes to compete and others have been stronger in denying them access. I think as an athlete it is difficult but to support the robust sanctions you can understand why."
F1 initially cancelled the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi, scheduled for September, before announcing they had cut ties with the event all together. The race has been due to switch to St Petersburg next year.
And Wolff, 50, said he understood why such a 'statement' had been made.
"I am Austrian, and Vienna is only 400km from Ukraine, and who would have thought that we would see another war in Europe?
"Formula 1 and the sport seem so minuscule in that context, so we decided not to race in Sochi and I think that Formula 1 has given a robust statement like many other industries in the world.
"I think this is the overwhelming topic today and it allows us to reflect on all the little annoyances we have in the sport that there is so much more important than this."
