Andretti To The Rescue?
Ever since we have had the devastation of war, we have had people that profit off it and despite the massive amount of lives that are lost, cities destroyed, survivors scarred and traumatised, there are still winners that gain from it. We may be about to see another person find themselves in a position again to see their wealth and notoriety in Formula 1 skyrocket due to others misfortune.
I won't go into detail too much here, but long story short, Vladimir Putin is a dickhead, he has invaded the Ukraine and started a war. Sports around the world are uniting and saying, hold ya horses you wank stain, you do shit like that and we will say, no Russian Sponsors in the sport, and in some instances, no Russian athletes are allowed to compete as well. A team that has struggled quite publicly with not only on the track performances but off the track issues is Haas. They've been desperate for for sponsorship and an injection of funds, and were able to get it from Dimitry Mazepin, a Belarusian-Russian oligarch. He basically said, I'll save your asses, but my son likes cars, give him a chance and put my companies name on the side of your cars, and make the cars look like the Russian flag. So Nikita got a seat.
He'd won a couple of F2, but Nikita had a horrible time of it in F1. Failing to finish higher than 17th, 0 points, many many spins, but he had the excuse that the car was a piece of shit and because of the cash behind him, he was going to continue to have a fight. But Putin went ahead and what did he do? Some fucking Vladimir Putin things and ruined stuff for everyone, the fucking prick.
Haas take daddy Mazepin's company off the car, remove the Russian style livery and the FIA condemn Russia and it's actioned and ripped up the contract it had in place to continue racing in Russia. Nikita Mazepin was still allowed and able to drive, but the British GP said, 'yea, the guy can stay in the sport, but we aren't allowing him to race here.' So Haas has terminated his contract immediately, I think they would've done it regardless, but at least now, they don't look like the bad guys, it's like Rocky 4 all over again, Haas are Rocky, Mazepin is Dolph Lundgren.
But a few weeks ago, Michael Andretti from Andretti Autosport, but of course more famously, former IndyCar Champion and former F1 driver as well as being the son of Mario Andretti, A former Formula 1 World Champion, back in 1978, announced that he would be interested in fielding a US based team in Formula 1. Most likely it would take some time to come into the sport, and they were aiming for season 2024, giving them enough time so that when the season started they are good to go and don't find themselves in a position that Haas are in right now.
But the war has presented Michael Andretti with something to think about. Gene Haas is the man that's in charge, and the time that he introduced Haas into F1 back in 2016, to now, he has aged 104 years. He went from looking like a young handsome man, to the guy in The Last Crusade that drinks from the wrong fucking cup. It's becoming a fucking headache for him, a stress in his life, I could be wrong and he is loving it all at the moment, but the name Haas in is the fucking toilet at the moment, he has to now go out and find people to sponsor the car, and will probably end up calling Rich Energy again. So why not sell it off to Andretti? Andretti, will take away all the pressure and hassle, and it's a win for them too, buying a team that is desperate is cheap, but they still have all the infrastructure in place, as well as a young man named Mick Schumacher there that knows what the hell he is doing.
Sometimes opportunities present themselves in unusual circumstances, Haas F1 is just a series of unfortunate events that has led to the name being dragged through the mud. If Haas made a factory car, there is no way, I'm telling my mates, I'm going to buy the latest Haas. If it were the 80s and 90s, there's no way we are hanging up a Haas poster on our bedroom walls. Gene, give it a rest, sell to Andretti and let's get an American team in place, that know what they're doing, that can get a nation behind them and ride the Drive to Survive hype train.