NIKITA MAZEPIN

Most Americans know Haas as the worst team in Formula One.

If things had gone according to plan, Colton Herta would be in Miami preparing for the fifth Formula One race of his career.

It’s been 40 years since Formula One last ventured into Sin City for back-to-back Las Vegas races staged in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel.

It was quite the weekend in motorsports, which is typically the bit player on the massive stick-and-ball sporting landscape so eager for its own time in the spotlight.

More than a year since being dropped from Formula One, Kevin Magnussen topped preseason testing in Bahrain on Friday in his first drive back in the seat for Haas, making the most of an extended session just for the American-owned team. Magnussen, who Haas recalled a year after firing him when it needed a last-minute replacement for Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, benefited from an extra hour of testing when he had the cooler Sakhir desert track all to himself to set a leading time of 1 minute, 33.207 seconds.

Kevin Magnussen will make a surprise return to Formula One this season with the same team that fired him a year ago.

The relationship between Haas F1 and its Russian sponsor and driver became untenable following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the owner of the United States-based Formula One team said Sunday. Gene Haas also said his team was financially stable despite the decision Saturday to cut ties with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and sponsor Uralkali. The Russian fertilizer company is owned by Mazepin’s father, Dmitry Mazepin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian driver Nikita Mazepin has been dropped by Haas F1 despite the FIA ruling he could compete under a neutral flag.

Russian athletes have been restricted from competing in more sporting events around the world but the Paralympics made an exception.

NASCAR champion Kyle Larson is among those conflicted over the ending of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton had the fastest qualifying time at the Turkish Grand Prix but a 10-place grid penalty prevented him from extending his record pole streak.