He has raced for Haas before in the last two races of the 2020 season, which saw Roman Grosjean miraculously survive a fireball crash.
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Brazilian racer and Haas reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi could be one of the options for Guenther Steiner and Haas as a replacement for Nikita Mazepin in the upcoming Formula One season. Pietro, who is the grandson of legendary F1 racer Emerson Fittipaldi, will have the opportunity to prove his mettle on the race track as he will be the one to test the VF-22 in Bahrain ahead of the season opener on March 20. The American team has already confirmed Fittipaldi as the one to test the new car so it may be assumed that they will not lock in a new replacement for Mazepin by then. Of course, Fittipaldi himself will have to prove his worth if he is to be a regular F1 driver and the Brazilian will be raring to go at the opportunity. He has raced for Haas before in the last two races of the 2020 season, which saw Roman Grosjean miraculously survive a fireball crash.
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The news was confirmed by team owner Gene Haas who said that the team was already in the process of finding a replacement. “We’re in the process of looking at several candidates, we’ll see who is available and what we have to deal with, but we’ll have somebody by Wednesday,” Haas said.
“Pietro will definitely be in it, that’s what he’s for, he’s the test driver. I think we’re looking [for a full-time driver]. I think we’d obviously like to get someone with a bit more actual experience. We just have to see what’s available,” he added.
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The reason why Mazepin was a part of Haas in the first place was, quite simply, sponsorship money. He is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Russian-Belarussian oligarch who is also the owner of the company. As a fledgling team in F1, Haas required the money to get going as a team. In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the team decided to do away with the sponsor and the driver associated with it.
“There was a lot of intense criticism about the Ukrainian invasion and it was just getting overwhelming,” Gene Haas continued. “We can’t deal with all that, our other sponsors can’t deal with all that,” he added.
