Pietro Fittipaldi tipped to replace Nikita Mazepin in Haas F1 seat

03/03/2022

Nikita Mazepin’s role as an F1 driver is reportedly set to come to a halt as he is likely be axed by Haas.

The world has swiftly put sanctions in place on Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine last week.

Over a million people are now attempting to flee the country, while the civilian death toll is said to be over 2000, with many unaccounted for.

F1 began to take action last week, and September's scheduled race at the Sochi Autodrom in September has now been removed from the 2022 calendar.

The organisation then went onto terminate its contract with the Russia GP, after the FIA decided it is now impossible to race there.

Mazepin, who is Russian, was pulled from a press conference last week and is now set to lose his seat at the pinnacle of motorsport.

Reports suggest he is likely to be replaced by Brazilian-American driver Pietro Fittipaldi, Haas' test/reserve driver.

He is the grandson of two-time F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, who triumphed in 1972 and 1974.

Back in 2011, Fittipaldi began his racing career in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series, winning the track championship at Hickory Motor Speedway.

The racer was keen to explore a career in open-wheeled racing and in 2013 made his debut in the BRDC Formula 4 Championship and Protyre Formula Renault Championship, before he won the latter in 2014.

Fittipaldi continued his rise and the following year he competed in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship where he finished 16th in the driver standings.

The driver returned to his native America in 2018 and took part in six races in the IndyCar Series, driving No. 19 Honda for Dale Coyne Racing.

He returned to the circuit three years later and exclusively for oval races, replacing former F1 driver Romain Grosjean.

Fittipaldi would go on to replace the Frenchman yet again, this time in F1, as he raced at the 2020 Sakir GP following the devastating injuries Grosjean sustained at the Bahrain Grand Prix a week earlier.

He went on to finish 17th and in the process, this made him the first grandson of a Formula One driver to become a Formula One driver himself.

He again stood in for Grosjean at the season finale in Abu Dhabi and this time crossed the line in 19th.

In February 2021 it was confirmed that he would remain in his role as a Haas test and reserve driver for the 2021 season.

Now Fittipaldi is set to become a permanent fixture of Haas’ team and according to Sky Sports Germany, he may become the team's second driver as early as the next round of testing in Bahrain next week.

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