No pressure from Ferrari for Haas to take junior drivers

Haas

No pressure from Ferrari for Haas to take junior drivers

Three Ferrari juniors are in the top four in the F2 standings

Sam Hall

Wednesday 16 September 2020 12:30

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has insisted the team is under no pressure from Ferrari to provide a seat for one of its high performing junior drivers in 2021.

American-owned Haas has run with an unchanged driver line-up of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen for nearly four years, with the former a constant fixture since the team made its debut in Formula 1 in 2016.

However, it is widely expected owner Gene Haas and Steiner will shake things up for next season, a theory which has not been dispelled by the latter.

Article continues under video

Power unit supplier Ferrari has a number of drivers performing well at the top of F2, including top-two Mick Schumacher and Callum Illott, and fourth place man Robert Shwartzman.

Without ruling out a move for any of these drivers, Steiner confirmed he is under no obligation to make space for a rookie.

"We never had that and we don't have the pressure from them," said Steiner. "If we want, we can.

"Obviously, they are more than happy if we can take them, they are not saying we cannot take them. We will make the decision ourselves, fortunately, and we will try to make the best decision for the team."

On numerous occasions, Steiner has stated all options are under consideration for 2021, which includes retaining the current line-up.

"It sounds already like we are getting rid of our drivers, which we haven't, so at the moment we are still gaining our time," commented the Italian.

"Anyway, we are still looking at what we are doing and we are not in a hurry. The market is still pretty good for the buyer at the moment. There are more drivers than seats. At the moment, we have got two drivers."

Before you go...

Hamilton and Bottas raced "with an abundance of caution" at Mugello - Mercedes

Stroll worthy of his Aston Martin seat alongside Vettel - Szafnauer