Former Haas driver Nikita Mazepin says the US outfit's treatment of ousted Russian sponsor Uralkali raises questions about the values portrayed by Formula 1.
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Haas unilaterally terminated its sponsorship contract with Uralkali and parted ways with Mazepin, whose father Dmitry is a majority shareholder of the chemical giant.
But immediately following the termination of the deal between the two parties, Uralkali sought a repayment by Haas of $13 million worth of sponsorship monies received by the American team from its Russian partner.
Haas not only rejected the claim, the team is now seeking from Uralkali $8.6 million in compensation for "loss of profits"!
Speaking to CNN's Richard Quest, Mazepin elaborated on his potential F1 comeback as neutral competitor. But the 23-year-old underscored the biggest issue, according to him, associated with a prospective return to the grid.
"Everybody has a right to speak or not to speak and the FIA, the highest governing body, has enabled me to compete as long as I'm neutral," he said.
"But I would say the biggest issue here is coming back to the sport where teams are allowed to be keeping sponsorship money without fulfilling the contract. And even asking for more, even though they say they don't want money from Russia.
"So I'm not sure, but the sport values need to be evaluated for me after this."
Unsurprisingly, Mazepin stated that F1 was "unfinished business" for him. But returning to the grid in the future, if at all, is an event the timing of which he cannot predict.
"It's difficult to say at this moment in time, because I'm very wary that my issue is that I've lost a job," he said.
"I was trying to get to F1 for 17 years and then I eventually got there. But it's a very minor issue if you compare to the big things that are going on in the world right now.
"Of course, I would love to get back to the sport. I feel that I've got a lot of unfinished business there.
"But I need to wait until things cool down. And I don't even know who I can get back to because, you know, Haas has obviously done what they did with playing not the cleanest game, in my opinion. But it's different for me."
Guenther Steiner and Dmitry Mazepin
Mazepin is keeping his personal views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict under wraps. But he admitted that watching the war unfold from afar is "very painful".
"My view is that, whatever is going on right now, and I can only see a very small bit from where I am in Moscow, it's very painful," he explained. “And I definitely feel it.
"I've been living for 23 years, and I was living in a very calm world. But as to my official position, I've said many times that it's very important to be neutral for me, because I'm an athlete. And I feel that it's important to be able to be neutral.
"Even for that, I have created a foundation that will help athletes stay neutral in principle."
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