Haas F1 team boss Coy on who will drive for the team in 2021

When Haas F1 team boss Günther Steiner knows which two drivers will drive Haas Formula 1 vehicles in 2021, he doesn’t say so.

At least he wasn’t in a particularly good mood with the media on Friday, the day after it was announced that Haas would be releasing both Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen at the end of the 202o season.

According to speculation, the team will start next year with two well-funded Formula 1 newbies: Ferrari Junior Academy driver Mick Schumacher (son of seven-time champion Michael) and Nikita Mazepin (father is Russian billionaire Dmitry Mazepin). The 21-year-old Schumacher is the current front runner in Formula 2, while the 21-year-old Mazepin is sixth with one race weekend left in the season.

“We will try to announce who our drivers are as soon as possible so that we can end this assumption,” said Steiner on Friday in Portugal. “But we’re not there because we haven’t signed any contracts yet. So there would be no point in saying anything. If it doesn’t happen, you have to explain it again.

“People just have to be a little patient. Hopefully it won’t take long, maybe a month or so, and then everyone gets to know it, but it’s just one of the things that when you get contracts you don’t have to talk about it . “

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Steiner at least admitted that one of the rumored Haas drivers – Schumacher – is on his team’s radar for 2021.

“I think Mick, who is now leading the F2 championship, says it all,” said Steiner. “I don’t think we need to say more. He’s in his second season in F2, he’s leading the championship – I wouldn’t say by a good margin – by a nice margin so I think he’s doing a good job he brings.” Job and I sure think he’s ready for Formula 1. “

Rising IndyCar star Colton Herta

Tom PenningtonGetty Images

One driver who, according to Steiner, is not ready for Formula 1 is the up-and-coming IndyCar star Colton Herta. The 20-year-old Herta is currently third in the NTT IndyCar Series and could actually qualify for a Formula 1 seat in 2021 with a revised downward point requirement for a super license. Herta would also give the American team an American driver that many US fans would have hugged.

Herta’s father Bryan had some Formula 1 experience when he attended an F1 test session with Minardi in 2002.

“I think Colton Herta is doing very well,” said Steiner. “He’s one of the drivers I see when I see IndyCar and I’m actually back in the US. I think he’s doing a great job there. I haven’t spoken to him so let’s stop this speculation. We had to stop.” Speculation lately. But I have a lot of respect for what he does.

“He’s very young, I think he has a great future, but I think he’s pretty happy where he is right now and that’s why we didn’t speak to him. I know he was based in Europe before and all the stuff but he’s in his second season at IndyCar and he has a good team there and the investors I think they want to see him there but I haven’t spoken to him but I have the greatest respect for him and that what he’s doing there, but he won’t be in our car next year. “

Steiner also went into the reasons and the timing of the fall of Grosjean and Magnussen. The drivers are not where the team plans to spend next year and it seems that Grosjean and Magnussen haven’t brought the team enough money. At least they didn’t bring enough cash with them to warrant a return after a season where the team is just one step away from the F1 basement in the standings.

“I mean, it’s financially driven,” Steiner said. “If you can find a driver who brings sponsors, that’s fantastic or a driver that costs less. For me, we have to put our finances into the car right now. Next year’s car will be very similar to this year’s because of some of them The parts are homologated and frozen. We have to focus on ’22 and make an investment in the car. We have to use the money for the money as best we can. “

And finally, Steiner was surprised when he saw that Grosjean was surprised, on the one hand, that the team was cleaning the house and bringing in not just one, but two new drivers for 2021.

Romain Grosjean will take his Haas with Ferrari No. 8 for a training run in Portugal on Thursday.

Peter FoxGetty Images

“I am surprised that he is still surprised by my decision,” said Steiner. “I’m always surprised, but he should be used to it. No, I think we just wanted to change something and we thought it was the right time because next year it will be more difficult because with the new car ’22, we don’t want new drivers in ’22 when a whole new regime goes into effect with a new car and other tires and things like that.

“You want to start (the new regulation era) with someone you know. If you had been committed to (Grosjean or Magnussen) for longer, it would be for at least the next two or three years and at some point we have to change, too. We have to focus on where we want to be in the medium term.

“We’re not just looking in the short term. In the short term, of course, it might have been best to keep them, but now that we’ve signed the Concorde deal, we have to look a little further ahead and see what might be in three.” , four years are ahead of us. “

Is Steiner making the right call by bringing in two new drivers for 2021? Did we honestly say he doesn’t have at least one oral agreement with his 2021 drivers? Attend the Haas F1 talk in the comment section.

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