Ferrari will follow Esteban Gutierrez’s progress at Haas in 2016 with a view to promoting him to a race seat at the Scuderia, according to team owner Gene Haas.
The Mexican driver, who is currently Ferrari’s test and reserve driver, will take up a full-time race seat with the Haas outfit next season.
According to Haas, Ferrari – which has a technical partnership with the American team – approached Haas about running the fomer Sauber driver, which leads the 63-year-old to believe that Gutierrez has a shot at racing for Ferrari if he impresses next year.
“Ferrari said ‘Here’s a driver you should consider and we would like to have him in your car’,” Haas told Autosport.
“Ferrari was interested in Esteban driving. Part of it is they would like to try him out so that they can evaluate him for a Ferrari drive down the road.
“I don’t know what Ferrari’s personal point of view is, but my point of view would be is they put talent in cars that they think have a potential to be their future drivers.”
It’s expected Ferrari will replace Kimi Raikkonen at the end of next year – he is only contracted for 2016 – with several potential candidates ranging from Max Verstappen to Romain Grosjean in Ferrari’s line of sight.
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