Pietro Fittipaldi is first in line to replace Nikita Mazepin if he is unable to continue driving for Haas.
Team principal Guenther Steiner confirmed the team’s reserve driver will have the “first call” on the seat. Steiner admitted earlier today that Mazepin’s future at the team is unsure as Haas may be about to split from title sponsor Uralkali.Haas removed Uralkali’s logos and Russian colour scheme from their cars ahead of today’s third day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine yesterday.
Steiner said the team will decide next week on the future of the title sponsorship deal. The decision will also affect Mazepin’s future, as he is linked to the funding brought by the deal via his father, Uralkali chief Dmitry Mazepin.
The team already has a contingency plan in place if Mazepin does not continue. “If Nikita couldn’t drive, for one or another reason, the first call will go to Pietro,” Steiner told Bob Varsha. “Obviously he’s with us for a few years. And then we will see what we would do next.”
Fittipaldi made his grand prix debut for Haas in 2020, when he drive two races as a substitute for Romain Grosjean when he was injured in a fiery crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix. He remains the team’s reserve driver.
“Pietro is always around with us for this reason,” said Steiner. “In the last years we needed a reserve driver with having Covid around. He’s always around, he knows the team, he knows the car. To jump in from one day to the other there is nobody better than Pietro around at the moment.”
Mazepin drove the team’s car this morning, following its livery change, but was only able to cover nine laps due to technical problems.
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Jere (@jerejj)
25th February 2022, 16:48
Unsurprisingly.
Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
25th February 2022, 17:53
Looking at his Racing Record, it doesn’t look like young Fitipaldi would be a step up from Mazepin
Doesn’t look great.
thegamer23
25th February 2022, 18:29
he was only 3 tenths off Magnussen in his second F1 Gp at Abu Dhabi 2020.
The kid might be actually good.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
26th February 2022, 6:42
Looks like the gene pool of this family has diminished more than the Andretti’s. I wish these F1 drivers in name only like this guy and Schumacher would become a thing of the past.
David Noble
26th February 2022, 9:41
Hill and Villeneuve didn’t do their family names much harm….
On the other hand, there was Senna
Tone
27th February 2022, 1:50
Not sure if you’ve heard of him, but Jos Verstappen’s son can drive OK.
DonSmee (@david-beau)
25th February 2022, 18:20
So they will shift from Putin money to Bolsonaro money. Okidokie!
curitibanopr
26th February 2022, 1:13
As a brazilian i can confirm that there is no governament money involved with Fittipaldi ….. at least there is that
His family name helps a lot to find sponsorship for him
Depailler
25th February 2022, 18:47
Interesting that Wolf prefers this kind of unambitious competition to Andretti entering the sport
Neil (@neilosjames)
25th February 2022, 18:57
By ‘first call’, I assume that means ‘first opportunity to squeeze his sponsors for $15m’ (or however much a Haas seat costs these days).
Fittipaldi doesn’t look a particularly exciting prospect, but he’s probably no worse than any of the realistic, well-funded alternatives.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
25th February 2022, 19:14
So good to see teams branching out with their personnel rather than just going for monied offspring of former racing drivers!
Who’s next: Brian Prost? Steve Senna? Jake Berger? Kev Mansell?
PT (@pt)
27th February 2022, 13:37
You left out Marco Andretti, Sebastian Montoya, Eduardo Barrichello…
Qeki (@qeki)
25th February 2022, 19:16
At least they are choosing the “reserve driver” It wasn’t a long time ago that “reserve driver” was surpassed by a test driver from the 90s
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
25th February 2022, 19:53
Well, there might be a world war going on by the first race.
But name wise well done. Two ancestors of famous racing oligarchs.
It seems also the car is super slow.
Mikey
25th February 2022, 20:04
I would love love love if Ikea picked up the phone to Gene Haas. “want to run yellow and blue??”
#UKRAINE
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
25th February 2022, 21:40
My understanding is the 2021 F2 season champion is Oscar Piastri, so maybe he should be first in line for the vacant seat.
hunocsi (@hunocsi)
26th February 2022, 0:29
Is that written in contract? Because Fittipaldi (however uninspiring a choice) does have one with Haas.
grat
26th February 2022, 1:15
So what part of “Reserve driver” isn’t totally clear?
Tristan (@skipgamer)
26th February 2022, 3:09
How does Fittipaldi even have a super license looking at his results? FIA needs to wake up and increase the standards.
Christopher Kyriazis (@ckyriazis2006)
26th February 2022, 3:15
https://www.racefans.net/2020/11/30/how-pietro-fittipaldi-narrowly-qualified-for-his-f1-debut-this-weekend/