According to German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’, there are talks between Scuderia Ferrari and Haas in regards to Haas doing the same as Alfa Romeo and giving one seat to a Ferrari Driver Academy member next year. Power unit supplier Ferrari has a number of drivers performing well at the top of Formula 2, including top-two Mick Schumacher and Callum Illott, and fourth place man Robert Shwartzman.
However, 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. Yet 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.
Without ruling out a move for any of the Ferrari Driver Academy members, 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.”
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