George Russell and Sebastian Vettel apparently removed Nikita Mazepin from a WhatsApp group! This happened the same day Haas F1 terminated the Russian driver’s contract. It was the pre- 2022 season when the Russia-Ukraine conflict began and Mazepin and Uralkali’s sponsorship was immediately dropped by the American team.
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Since then, the 23-year-old has publicly mourned the loss and revealed several stories. These include complaints about his unpaid salary and a threat to take Haas to the court. Clearly, the young driver and his former team are not on good terms anymore.
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Amidst his problems with the American outfit, Mazepin’s admission of the GPDA group is noteworthy. hey revealed “To be honest, I was removed from the GPDA group on WhatsApp on the same day that Haas announced his dismissal…” (quotes translated using Google).
Twitter fans have now reacted to Mazepin’s confession in many different ways.
Okay but who kicked Mazepin, I need to know
— rie (@High5Forever) July 5, 2022
but like do they send memes or funny things or is this purely for information sending & meeting updates.
— FeliciaOnF1 (@FeliciaOnF1) July 5, 2022
Okay but I wonder if they have smaller WhatsApp groups to meet up for golf or something?
— Zoë 
(@Zoe_The_Freeze) July 5, 2022
romain grosjean talked abt the whatsapp groupchat as well recently!! i can’t remember exactly what he said but i lived for the insight
— tour de sly 
(@veromussillon) July 5, 2022
they even have groups at discord like
smaller bigger group chats to play that discord games and stuff 
organized kings
— é Ká-trin (@eukatryn) July 5, 2022
I bet they all laughed as they kicked him
— KupeR 
| #essereFerrari 
(@KupeRLeclerc) July 5, 2022
How do we sneak into this WhatsApp group??
— urbandoctormom (@mimiMD2003) July 5, 2022
Russell and Vettel apparently head this particular group themselves. Moreover, this news definitely comes as a surprise to several Formula 1 fans.
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Safe to say, not many knew that there was a Drivers’ WhatsApp group in existence. However, this was not it, as Mazepin further revealed many other unknown things.
George Russell reveals the message he sent to Mazepin
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The Russian driver has claimed that several renowned drivers have supported him privately. Russell, in fact, was one of the drivers on Mazepin’s list of his supporters. Notably, Mazepin did not name his former teammate Mick Schumacher on the list. Understandably, the world also stood divided on Haas’s decision, with many supporting it while many hailing it unjustified.
Formula One F1 – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 12, 2022 Mercedes’ George Russell on the grid before the race REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
Russell also clarified his message to Mazepin. He revealed, “There was absolutely nothing political. I think all of our views, of what is going on in the world, are absolutely united. But obviously for Nikita, I’ve known him personally for a very long time… I just said ‘Keep you chin up’, as simple as that. Nothing political in it. Personally.”
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Since Mazepin’s departure, Kevin Magnussen has taken over at Haas and been a surprising success story.
