The new-for-2016 Haas F1 Team won’t be hiring an American driver for their debut season according to team principal Günther Steiner.
Many had expected the American team would call upon a home-grown driver, such as Alexander Rossi, as part of its plans for an all-American team, but that won’t be the case, at least not in 2016.
“There is nobody out there at the moment,” Steiner told the official Formula 1 website.
“Yes, there are drivers in GP2 and Formula 3, but having a rookie in a new team – that is difficult for both sides. The potential of such a partnership failing is pretty high.
“So at the moment we’d rather not be looking at that avenue, because you are also not helping an inexperienced driver – he could be burned in one season.”
“We are new, so we need a known quantity in the team.”
With Steiner’s insistence on experience, it’s believed a Ferrari reserve driver, such as Esteban Gutierrez or Jean-Eric Vergne are guaranteed one of the seats, whilst a list of up to eight other drivers are fighting over the second seat.
That list is thought to include Sergio Perez, Keving Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Max Chilton among others.
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