Engine partnership allows Haas to talk to Ferrari "first" over junior drivers

Haas

Engine partnership allows Haas to talk to Ferrari "first" over junior drivers

Schumacher, Ilott and Shwartzman are in the top five of the F2 championship

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 21 October 2020 17:04

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes the team's engine tie-up with Ferrari will help align a seat for one of the Scuderia's junior drivers.

Ferrari has three academy drivers in the top five of the Formula 2 championship standings, with the trio to be given first-practice opportunities before the end of the season.

Although Mick Schumacher and Callum Ilott - the latter with Haas at the Nürburgring recently - saw their debut runs wiped out by weather, Ferrari has indicated there may be a further chance for the duo to run alongside Robert Shwartzman in Abu Dhabi.

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When asked about the possibility of landing one of the three drivers for a race seat in the future, with reports suggesting Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean are to be axed, with the existing engine partnership being a crucial factor, Steiner responded: "Absolutely.

"Ferrari is in the fortunate position to have three good ones. For sure, they've put themselves in that position by investing in the right guys.

"So being aligned on the engine with them, for sure if we want young drivers then we will talk with them first.

"But they've put themselves in that position, so it goes beyond the collaboration on the engine side."

Multiple F1 teams have junior drivers performing well in the feeder series this season, with Renault's Christian Lundgaard and Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda the other two drivers occupying a top-five spot.

Steiner joked about his relief of not having to make the decision of which driver is promoted to which seat.

"I would say this year in F2, there are other teams with good drivers and they've got the issue of where they put their people," added Steiner.

"Ferrari has got that issue because they've got three in the top five. I don't know how they are going to solve that problem, but thank God it's not my problem."

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