Former Indianapolis 500 winner and Champ Car champion Gil de Ferran has suggested America’s best racing drivers were lost to stock car racing, such as NASCAR, in response to a claim made by Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner.
Last week, the team principal at Formula 1’s American team suggested hiring a driver from the United States is a priority for Haas, however, currently, there are no drivers “ready” to make that step.
That drew a stern response from some figures including Mario Andretti criticising the claim and de Ferran also disagreed, pointing to the likes of former Manor driver Alexander Rossi and IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden, but also admitted in single-seaters opportunities have been missed.
“I think that a lot of the young American talent has grown, but is focused on the other branch of racing – stock car racing,” he said at the Autosport International show last weekend.
“Early on they took this branch and to be fair it is very difficult, [but] the pool [of drivers in single seaters] is smaller than what it could be.”
Given the lack of success, American drivers have had in attempting to reach F1 via GP3, F2 in Europe compared to staying at home and focusing on IndyCar it was put to de Ferran there is also now a stigma against those who leave the States.
“I think it’s more to do with the individual than anything else,” he responded. “You had [Juan Pablo] Montoya who was very successful on both sides and [Jacques] Villeneuve who won a world championship.
“It’s down to the individual guys. In the same way that Nigel [Mansell] went over there [to the US] and killed it.”