Gene Haas has confirmed that Pietro Fittipaldi will take part in this week's test in Bahrain, as the American outfit considers its long-term options.

Fittipaldi, who replaced Romain Grosjean in the two final races of the 2020 season following the Frenchman's horrific crash, is the official reserve driver at Haas ad therefore the obvious choice to replace Nikita Mazepin who was dropped at the weekend.

However, looking ahead the American team will need to consider its options especially as the loss of the substantial financial backing Mazepin brought with him will leave a question mark over the team's future.

A number of drivers are said to be under consideration for the seat alongside Mick Schumacher including former Alfa Romeo driver, Antonio Giovinazzi.

"We're in the process of looking at several candidates," Haas tells the Associated Press. "We'll see who is available and what we have to deal with, but we'll have somebody by Wednesday.

"Pietro will definitely be in it, that's what he's for, he's the test driver," he adds.

Referring to the decision to drop Uralkali, Haas admits: "There was a lot of intense criticism about the Ukrainian invasion and it was just getting overwhelming. We can't deal with all that, our other sponsors can't deal with all that.

"Haas has always been the major, primary sponsor," he says of his own machine tool company, "I don't know why people said it became a Russian team. Haas Automation was always on the car.

"We're good. We're fine. We'd like more money, of course, but we're fine," he insists. "This just gives us a bigger negative number."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by alvarezh3, 08/03/2022 18:09

"@ffracer

Thank you for taking your time to research, clarify and illustrate us, interesting facts."

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2. Posted by ffracer, 08/03/2022 16:59

"OMG, speaking of forgetting facts, the late Carl Haas had also tried F1, with Haas Lola F1 in 85-86, with none other than Lola (sort of) and Ford. Google /Wiki for some more exciting info. Co-owned the legendary Teddy Mayer of McLaren fame, these beautiful red cars had former F1 champ Alan Jones and loyal Haas Can-Am champ Patrick Tambay driving( w Ross Brawn as the aero chief!) but even with such promising tech partners, big problems led to no results and the team folded after a couple of years....

Carl and Gene: Reports say that they are not related. The late Carl Haas (born in 1929 Germany) emigrated to the US in the early 50s and started racing Ferraris, Jags and Porsches off the proceeds of his racing parts business and then retiring from driving to devote himself to his thriving teams and racing related businesses. He died in Jul 2016. Gene Haas, born in 1952 mid Ohio, US, made his mountain in CNC engineering machines before starting his successful NASCAR teams before making his foray into F1 for the 2016 season. Kicking up dust ever since!"

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3. Posted by alvarezh3, 08/03/2022 13:42

"@ffracer

So Gene and Carl are not related, is that it? Thought they were father-son duo. Ok."

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4. Posted by alvarezh3, 08/03/2022 13:03

"@ffracer

Thank you for the clarification. I had completely forgotten about Carl the famous Lola cars importer as you mentioned.

Yes I read the wikipedia posting, it's impossible for me to remember everything about the Haas!

Thanks again."

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5. Posted by ffracer, 08/03/2022 12:05

"@alvarezh3

Wrong Haas but, in short, the late Carl Haas was the first Haas to make waves in motorsports and, simply, another giant.

The late Carl Haas was, amongst many great things, the U.S importer for Lola Cars and Hewland transmissions, an incredible winning team owner in the storied Can-Am, Formula 5000 and CART/Champcar/Indycar series spanning over fifty years. The Newman Haas Indycar team was successful in so many ways, and besides their many tremendous championships and wins: Haas had an incredible partner in the late, great actor and guru philanthropist Paul Newman, having Mario and son Michael Andretti as winning teammates for so many years, having Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell for that infamous championship '93-'94 stint, Cristiano Da Matta and ultimately Sebastien Bourdais as their last Champcar (pre Indycar) champ. Most importantly, Newman Haas raised massive awareness and devoted much for many of Paul Newman's brilliant charities. A sincere privilege to meet him. Please Google or Wiki to do this great man justice."

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6. Posted by alvarezh3, 08/03/2022 4:42

"@ffracer

The Newman/Haas team also won Indy championships with Mario, Michael and Mansell.

Yep, he's been around ! :-)"

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7. Posted by alvarezh3, 08/03/2022 4:12

"@Superbird70

He came into F1 with the intent of obtaining a platform to advertise his Company. He declared that. But, the spending has it's limits, it's not advertising at any price.

Andretti Jr. declared that he spoke with Haas last October or November (he stated he didn't remember) about purchasing the team, and he said that Hass answered that he need not win races in order to be satisfied with his investment and that he saw no need to sell it.

I remember a few years back, the equivalent in advertising spending that RedBull was saving through their presence in F1 equated to more than 1.2 billion US$. It was not explained if that figure was before paying the 300 million they were spending on the team or after. Either way it was a heck of a deal.

Remember, it's not only the TV minutes before, during and after the race (like drivers interviews), it's the articles in auto (like Car and Driver) and auto racing magazines in print and online, the reports on thousands of news papers around the world every Monday after a race. Just today, Yahoo had a report on the Mazepin issue and, of course, they had to mention Hass.

So yes, his investment on the team it's an advertisement write off. I am not familiar with the internals of the European teams, but I know for a fact that there has been and there are probably still are, a few companies that do that in the U.S. of A. I wouldn't be surprised if that's not the case with WeatherTech with it's IMSA squad (Porsche, Ferrari and now an MB for Sebring)."

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8. Posted by Superbird70, 08/03/2022 3:24

"@Alvarezh3-do you think the F1 team is an advertising write off for Haas?"

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9. Posted by ffracer, 08/03/2022 2:49

"@ Alvarezh3 :Bingo. Haas is a giant in CNC. This exotic machinery isn't cheap and Haas is everywhere...

The comment from Andretti, I'm not surprized. It always made sense for Haas to join F1. Nascar always did well for him but F1 is massive globally... and he's in the show as they say. Haas did very well linking up with Ferrari and all their partners. "

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10. Posted by Bill Hopgood, 07/03/2022 18:22

"There must be some value is sponsoring the Haas team:
Very high Drive to Survive hours (next TV season probably)
Being lapped multiple times so being on the telly more often than the mid field.
Inexperienced drivers likely to crash and also be on the telly.

Surely there is a company trying to go global that will step up and shell out for at least one season to replace their previous sponsor?

"I don't know why people said it became a Russian team..." well, maybe the livery, driver, sponsor?
"

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11. Posted by alvarezh3, 07/03/2022 18:02

"Ups! previous post for @Wokingchap."

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12. Posted by alvarezh3, 07/03/2022 18:01

"Take my words with a grain of salt, but since Haas is into F1 to promote his CNC business (he has declared to Andretti that winning is not a priority for him), he probably prefers to promote to Brazil's growing economy. Italy ranks No.8 in GDP, Brazil follows as No.9. Maybe he see's Brazil as a better market for his business.

I don't know if Pietro is making any payments, but just as Checo, he is a "Claro" sponsored driver. There could be some sponsorship money for Haas in the works, we will soon see."

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13. Posted by Superbird70, 07/03/2022 14:10

"Imaginary number- English really is my first language"

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14. Posted by Superbird70, 07/03/2022 14:07

"@Max Noble- An imaginary can be as big as you want."

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15. Posted by Wokingchap, 07/03/2022 13:02

"I would rather like to see A.Giovinazzi in that team as he has lot to give, but not sure ge has enough money/sponsorship."

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Haas confirms Fittipaldi for Bahrain test

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