Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner has revealed he declined a Ferrari request to take on one of their young drivers in 2018 as he looks to “build a base” for the team going forward.
The two outfits have worked together in a technical partnership since Haas joined the grid last year and in that time the American team has taken on young drivers including Esteban Gutierrez, Charles Leclerc and currently Antonio Giovinazzi.
However, after announcing their line-up of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen would be maintained next season as long ago as June, Steiner insists the Scuderia had no problem accepting their reasoning for not wanting to change.
“We work very closely with Ferrari together on things but they respect our decisions,” he told RACER. “We are very open with them about what we are doing because that’s the only way the partnership works – there is no playing games.
“We know we have got these two drivers and sometimes you need to look after the long-term because next year is short term. Sure, they asked us if we can do something, and we said no. It’s fine.
“We make our plans and try to plan as well as possible. When we signed these drivers we had to make the plans together. We need to be consistent.”
Based on Giovinazzi’s recent Friday outings, it is highly likely the Italian is who Ferrari asked Haas to take on, particularly as recently crowned F2 champion Charles Leclerc is now also associated with and is expected to join Sauber as a race driver next season.
However, after a respectable second season in F1 this season, now the Banbury and Kannapolis-based team is looking to move forward claiming to stick to what they know is a safer way of achieving that target.
“I wouldn’t say we would confuse ourselves without help from outside but everything is new for us and while consistency sometimes goes against you – sometimes fresh blood helps you do better – we need to build a base,” Steiner explained.
“For that, consistency is important. I think we work with both of our drivers very well so at the moment for us there is nothing to be changed.”
As for right now, Haas is preparing for their second home race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas this weekend and for owner Gene Haas, this trip is about highlighting the progress made over the last year.
“As an American team, having an F1 race on American soil is incredibly important,” he commented. “When we arrived in Austin last year, I think we had proven that we could hold our own with the established teams in F1.
“We had a very successful entrance into F1. We accomplished all of our major goals and, actually, surpassed what we expected at the beginning of the season.
“Now, we’re back with another year under our belts. We’ve been more consistent and we’ve scored more points but we can still be better, and being able to showcase our growth and what we can accomplish on home soil is very gratifying.”
