Haas' dark future in Formula 1: American team, Russian money and the most hated driver

• Alpine test, in search of solutions for Alonso: "It has been a frustrating day"

• War in Ukraine F1 cancels Russian GP

• Carlos Sainz "F1 is beautiful this year"

Last week, on the

team's hospitality terrace at the Montmeló circuit, one chair was missing.

, omnipresent in any act of the American team, had decided to absent himself from the first pre-season tests of his son

, by far the most hated driver on the grid.

We had to wait until Thursday morning, hours after the first Russian bombardments on Ukrainian territory, to hear from the CEO of

, one of the giants of the Russian chemical industry, main sponsor of the worst team on the grid.

Mazepin had just met, along with 37 other oligarchs, with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A few minutes after that photograph was circulated in the

,

Haas boss

That same afternoon, the team's operators began to remove the stickers of its main sponsor and those that emulated the colors and stripes of the Russian flag.

The future in Formula 1 of, it should be insisted on, the worst team in the World Championship was already hanging by a thread, and at this time that perspective has not improved.

The blows of geopolitics and war have fully reached Haas,

.

A team with factories in Kannapolis (North Carolina) and Banbury (United Kingdom), but subject to the sanctions of the World Anti-Doping Agency (AMA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) against the Kremlin's outrages.

For these reasons and some more, he has been arousing conflicting postures in the Great Circus for two years.

The contagious passion for the engine of

, the businessman who raised the project in 2016, lives with the suspicions raised by the Mazepin family.

He not only sees them as dilettantes, but as forgiving ones.

And so that nothing is missing, Steiner usually sets the microphones on fire with each of his appearances.

visa required

On Friday morning, Haas and Steiner crossed the turnstiles to the Montmeló

together , trying to offer an image of stability in the middle of the storm.

Hanging over his project was the threat of sanctions against Russian companies that are already a reality.

The freezing of troops and the limitation on payments compromised the multi-year agreement signed with Uralkali in December 2020. Deprived of that financial injection by the Russian chemical fertilizer company, the team would look out over the gorge.

Even the stony face of Steiner, a guy used to all kinds of vicissitudes and hardships in F1, seemed to crack at times.

"We need to resolve the Nikita situation," announced the main

, shortly after Liberty Media, the company that owns the business, confirmed the cancellation of the Russian GP.

The ring continued to tighten on Mazepin, whose sudden absence from the track added even more uncertainty to the matter.

According to the official statement, the Haas VF-22 suffered a mishap with the engine lubricant when the Russian pilot had only been able to complete nine laps.

With the car out of circulation, the team began to collect their baggage.

Although no one in there still knows for sure if they will even be able to travel to the second tests of the preseason, which start in Bahrain on the 10th.

As a first step, Mazepin would need a special permit to enter the tiny Gulf archipelago, also the scene of the first race of the 2022 World Cup. Since the state doping scandals that dotted his country, he has been competing under a neutral flag.

Now, diplomatic sanctions against Russia would put it in formidable logistical trouble.

That is, if the FIA, at an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, does not decide this Tuesday to exclude Russian drivers and teams from their competitions, in response to their country's offensive in Ukraine.

Of the 20 countries F1 will visit, only Azerbaijan, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates would allow visa-free entry.

It does not seem that the fortune of his father, estimated at 7,000 million dollars, can clear the way this time.

It also does not seem that the contacts of

, the plenipotentiary of Uralkali and Uralchem, are of any use.

The future of potassium fertilizers - and that of its logo on the chassis of an F1 car - becomes considerably darker in times of war.

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