The relationship between driver, sponsor and F1 team has been an uneasy one and events in Ukraine seem to have led to a total parting of the ways, with Sky Germany reporting that Haas have “separated” from Mazepin and reserve driver Pietro Fittipaldi will take over for testing in Bahrain.

He would then be Mick Schumacher’s new team-mate for the season if no further changes are made for the long term, with the Brazilian-American having raced twice at the end of the 2020 season.

Mazepin failed to land any points last season, in what was his debut campaign in F1.

Max Verstappen has been hailed as the best driver in Formula One following the announcement of his extraordinary £200milllion deal with Red Bull.

The five-year contract extension, which could earn Verstappen as much as £40million-a-season, is arguably the most lucrative in F1 history, and will see the world champion remain at Red Bull until the end of 2028.

Verstappen’s current contract, worth around £20m-a-year, was due to expire at the end of next season. But the Dutchman, 24, has been rewarded for beating seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to the title.

Verstappen’s salary hike matches the 37-year-old Hamilton’s £80m two-year Mercedes deal.

“To have Max signed with Red Bull through to the end of 2028 is a real statement of intent,” said team principal Christian Horner.

“Max was the outstanding driver of last year. He was the world champion and mentally it takes that pressure off. He has that first tick in the box, but I don’t think anything will change in the way he goes racing.

“He will give 110 per cent, and with new engine regulations for 2026 we wanted to make sure we had the best driver on the grid secured for that car.”

Aston Martin have work to do with their new car before the 2022 season gets underway, claims Jolyon Palmer, with the former F1 driver suggesting there wasn’t too much to get excited about in the first test in Spain.

With another test run to come in Bahrain before the campaign gets underway, Palmer notes that even minor upgrades can have a big effect – so there’s no need to panic even though improvements are required.

“In Barcelona it was tough – from the outside at least – to spot any obvious signs that they’d made much progress towards the front end of the grid,” Palmer said in his Formula1.com column.

“The car looked snappy and hard to drive, particularly in the low-speed final sector, and it was also the car I saw porpoise the most on one particular lap, as it was launched almost fully into the air down the start-finish straight.

“Sebastian Vettel had the better of the running, and looked the more likely to get a tune out of it as well, but they don’t look like they have the car in the sweet spot just yet.

“It could be the case that minor set-up changes can transform the performance though, as engineers are constantly getting to grips with how to maximise this new generation car.”

Max Verstappen is already one of F1’s best-ever drivers and won the championship last year by getting “inside” Lewis Hamilton’s head, says David Coulthard.

The former racer pointed to the Dutch-Belgian’s overtake at the Yas Marina Circuit last year, which won him the title, as evidence of his driven nature and says his young starting age means he’s already mature by Formula One standards.

“I knew he would either crash and become World Champion, or catch up and become World Champion. So yes,” Motorsport.com reports him saying in a documentary.

“But I didn’t expect him to make his overtake so early. That just showed his fighting spirit. As soon as there’s a gap, even if it’s not really a gap, he goes for it.

“That makes him a worthy champion in my eyes. He managed to get inside Lewis’ head and Lewis knew he had to leave room. No other driver has that effect on Lewis.

“Lewis is a fantastic driver and deserved to win that race, but I also think Max deserved the title because of his fighting spirit.

“He is remarkably mature for his young age. Let’s not forget that he was 17 when he entered Formula 1 and he won his first grand prix when he was 18. That he took that opportunity and triumphed makes him exceptional.

“All Formula 1 drivers are good, just like all Premier League footballers are good. But it’s about finding the guys who are exceptional.”

Ferrari produced some of the standout early showings in the Barcelona warm-up circuits last week, but team boss Mattia Binotto isn’t placing too much emphasis on the performance of the new F1-75 – largely because he expects Mercedes to bump up their own output soon.

Several teams were still running early versions of what will be the new vehicles, with a second round of testing in Bahrain set to see upgrades unveiled.

Lewis Hamilton had suggested Ferrari might be months ahead in development this year due to decisions taken halfway through last season – but Binotto still expects it to be the other way around.

“I’m pretty sure that [Mercedes] will be two or three months ahead of us by the time we will be in Bahrain,” said Binotto.

“So I think that it’s very difficult today to judge the performance and the relative competitiveness between the teams.

“But what’s important for us was to collect data here, and I think we can be satisfied for the amount of laps we did, collecting data and again, and will be analysed back at Maranello.

“I heard that there will be rumours that our competitors will bring big updates and upgrades. So I’m more concerned myself, I think, than Hamilton on ourselves.”

Formula 1 teams are launching their new cars for the 2022 season, as a new era takes hold.

2022 sees F1 undergo a significant regulation change which has led to a completely new era of car design, meaning there is potential for the grid order to be shaken up and for backmarker teams to challenge further up the grid order. The new rules will require teams to have nailed the finer details of the transition in order to succeed.

The regulation change has been devised in order to increase the quality of racing in F1. The return of ground effect aerodynamics is designed to allow drivers to follow one another more closely and encourage more intense wheel-to-wheel racing, while a five-inch increase in the width of the Pirelli size is part of plan to allow drivers to push harder for longer.

In terms of universal visual changes, this year’s cars have small winglets covering the tops of the front tyres, the front and rear wings have been simplified, and intricate bargeboard designs have been outlawed.

Here’s everything we’ve got for the new cars:

We know by now there are plenty of alternations to some much-changed cars in Formula One this year – now Mercedes are revealing a few secrets behind theirs.

The W13 was launched recently and Hywel Thomas, managing director of Mercedes, and Mike Elliott, technical director, got together to explain what has really changed in the car Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will be driving this year.

“In terms of regulation changes it’s twofold: the shape of the car and with the completely different rules, the aerodynamics – it’s changed front to back,” Elliott detailed.

“The car is shorter than last year by regulation, the whole electrical layout is changed and we’re back to convention springs suspension.

“Lots of detail right the way through the car.”

A look around social media at what the teams are up to today, then?

Red Bull and Ferrari are among those admiring their new looks this season, whether it’s the car livery or the new outfits the drivers have – complete with new-look Oracle branding for the former – while McLaren are taking a peek into the past.

Think they should probably let Lando back on the Twitter page, he was entertaining!

Max Verstappen’s new contract at Red Bull places him among the sport’s top earners with Lewis Hamilton, but Red Bull are delighted to have the deal done – even if it’s a decision well outside their norm.

Helmut Marko, the team’s advisor, pointed out that deal handed out represented not only a different approach within Red Bull but an acknowledgement of the massive potential Verstappen has for the forthcoming years.

“I won’t talk about the numbers, but I can only say that both parties are very satisfied and will remain,” said Marko said to F1 Insider.

“The fact that we rate Max highly is apparent from the duration of the new contract. Normally, Red Bull does not make such long commitments.

“It’s no secret that character at Red Bull is a very important quality, which we value very much.”

If Verstappen sees out the entirety of the deal with no unforeseen absences he will break Michael Schumacher’s records for most seasons with a team and most race starts for a single team.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali says the Netflix series Drive to Survive has had a great impact for F1 in terms of attracting a new market and new audience – but insisted that future version have to keep adding “value” to the sport, otherwise a renegotiation would be required.

“There is no doubt that Drive to Survive has had an incredible effect, mainly on the new audiences, and also in other new markets like US for sure,” Domenicali told Wall Street analysts ahead of the season four launch.

“And this will continue, and I can anticipate to you that you have to stay tuned to the new series, because I’ve just had the possibility to see it, and it will be fantastic, with the right tone. And as you can imagine, with what has happened last year, there will be a lot of action. So that’s good.

“I think that it’s important for us to be with Drive to Survive, with our Netflix friends, up to the moment where we believe that we’ll make sure that it’s a differentiating factor.

“If it’s becoming just a different way to speak about F1 without adding, or giving to the F1 platform any added value, maybe I think it’s better to renegotiate and see with Netflix and with the other partners what could be a possibility to do something different in the future.

“But for sure, this platform has been a vital part on the growth of awareness, mainly with the young generation and with newcomers of F1. And for that we need to thank that vision, and the process and the quality, that has been really very, very good.”