Steiner admits that the team with two rookies has left “no reference” this season, having previously hired Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.
The rule changes next year will mean a reset for all teams, and Steiner admits that it would be beneficial to have a more experienced rider at camp.
The third driver Haas currently employs is Pietro Fittipaldi, who completed two races as a replacement for Grosjean at the end of 2020.
“You are absolutely right, we have no reference, the reference is missing,” he said. “And that’s an experienced driver. So I’m not sure how we’re going to do this, there is more than one way to do these things. We talked a little bit about it but didn’t really do anything.
“But I want to see how they are doing. And you can see a lot from data, how much they have improved and things like that, you can get a lot of information. When we get there, we’ll find a solution for that too, if we have to, and I’m not sure we have to. “
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One problem is that Mazepin and Schumacher would have to forego priceless track time in the next season so that the team can properly deploy a third driver.
“It’s always difficult when you take on reserves for a reference driver, call it that, it will take them out of the car during testing and such. And I think we have to get to this point at some point, “explained Steiner.
“I will discuss internally with the engineers what is best for the team, but we haven’t made up our minds yet. There are a lot of these ideas floating around. But we didn’t make that decision.
“And hopefully we don’t need that, because that’s not good either if you put someone in who only gives you a reference, and then [the race drivers] lose time driving it. So it is a very difficult decision to make.
“And I just hope that our car is stable enough that they can get as much out of it as possible. The better the car, the easier it is for them to develop it. A stable car makes you faster because there is trust. “
When asked when he could call a third driver, he added, “If we have to make that decision, it will be after the season.”
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