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Haas to run in plain white on final day of Barcelona testing
Haas will drop its Uralkali livery and branding for the final day of pre-season testing and run in a plain white color scheme amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The team’s Russian title partner is controlled by Dmitry Mazepin, who has ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, holding a meeting with him only last month. After Putin ordered troops into Ukraine this week, the team’s funding has come under intense scrutiny, as has its livery which unsubtly depicts the Russian flag.
In response to the situation, Haas issued a statement on Thursday night that it will change the color scheme for the final day of testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“Haas F1 Team will present its VF-22 in a plain white livery, minus Uralkali branding, for the third and final day of track running at Circuit de Barcelona–Catalunya on Friday,” the team said, already dropping the Uralkali title from its name. “Nikita Mazepin will drive as planned in the morning session with Mick Schumacher taking over in the afternoon. No further comment will be made at this time regarding team partner agreements.”
The announcement comes as team principals are set to join a conference call with Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali to discuss the situation, with unease over the sport’s agreement to race in Russia in September.
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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