Haas is now expected to field an all-rookie line-up of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in 2021, according to the latest ‘silly season’ gossip.
For some time now, team boss Guenther Steiner has indicated Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, who have been together since 2017, will be replaced at the end of this season.
“I would say yes, and if I would know exactly as such, I would tell them as quickly as possible as to what we are doing,” he said at the Nurburgring on if the two drivers should look elsewhere.
“They deserve that, staying or not staying, whatever happens, they need to be the first ones to know as soon as we make the decision.”
Indeed, Grosjean has already indicated he may move to WEC, while Magnussen has previously hinted at a move to IndyCar once his F1 days are over.
And according to Danish F1 reporter Peter Nygaard, that day is a little under seven weeks away.
“I am 99.9% sure Kevin Magnussen’s Formula 1 career will end with the season finale in Abu Dhabi on December 13,” he wrote in the BT newspaper.
“His career thus becomes another victim of the corona crisis. Without the financial problems that have followed in the slipstream of COVID-19, Haas, Williams and others could have afforded to look more at the drivers’ talent than their financial backing.
“Haas, who just a year ago felt too inexperienced to occupy just one car with a debutant, will now likely drive with two rookies, which underscores how hard the crisis is scratching.
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“Kevin Magnussen has always said he only drives Formula 1 to win,” he added. “The goal has always been to become World Champion, but as Formula 1 has evolved during the corona crisis that goal is now unrealistic.
“That’s why Magnussen leaves Formula 1. It’s been seven years since he won a race [Formula Renault 3.5 Series] and there is no prospect it will happen in Formula 1.
“It will be exciting to see where he continues his career, but he told me at the Nürburgring that in any case, he will not settle for a reserve driver job. He will run – and win – races in 2021.”
The main story gathering pace is that Mazepin is almost guaranteed a seat after his billionaire father Dmitry met with Haas chief Steiner in Sochi.
Currently, the Russian sits sixth in the F2 standings with two wins to his name this season, and it is securing the necessary super-licence points which the Italian version of Motorsport.com says is the final hurdle to a two-year deal.
Should that happen, it is now claimed that Schumacher would be the driver to join Mazepin.
According to RaceFans, Ferrari is likely to send the German to Haas rather than to Alfa Romeo, as has long been rumoured, to help bring sponsorship and because of the technical partnership the two teams enjoy.