Formula One team Haas has tapped Danish driver Kevin Magnussen as their replacement for the Russian driver, Nikita Mazepin, who was sacked last week as a response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
Magnussen, 29, is familiar with the USA-based Haas, having driven for them from 2017 to 2020 before the team replaced him and Romain Grosjean with Mazepin and Mick Schumacher, and has reportedly signed a multi-year contract with the team.
Mazepin was sacked as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and his father, Dmitry’s, close association with widely-despised Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Both Mazepin and his father were sanctioned by the European Union this week.
In order to get him, Haas plucked Magnussen out of his two separate contracts with two endurance racing teams – Ganassi in the USA and Peugeot’s Le Mans project in Europe.
Magnussen does not exactly have a sparkling Formula 1 record, recording only one podium – a second-place finish for McLaren in the 2014 Australian Grand Prix – in 119 F1 starts, but has amassed 158 points in his seven-year career in the world’s premier racing series.