F1 | Steiner thinks Haas is ready for a “rookie” line-up gamble in 2021
The Haas’ team principal reveals that his team is ready to try something completely new as it has no driver confirmed for next season
For Haas it’s time to move on. The American team did not manage to get many points in the last seasons so it tries to change strategy.
If 2019 had been a tough year for the Banbury-based team, 2020 is not easy either. Haas is collecting a long series of retirements and poor performances and for a team who has all the intentions to remain in Formula 1 such results are frustrating.
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝟭𝟬𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲! 🤳
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) November 3, 2020
We'll celebrate our 100th Race in F1 at next month's #AbuDhabiGP and we want to do it with YOU! 🎉🥳
We will select 100 selfies from Haas F1 fans to appear in our garage over the weekend!
ENTER 👉 https://t.co/v8ge6jQcnq pic.twitter.com/rq5KOmZbpB
Gunther Steiner is ready to make a step forward. He starts to build a new way by changing completely the drivers’ line- up. Now Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen are unemployed and this means that both Haas’ seats are available. We could have expected Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg in the rose of the contestants but Steiner has different plans.
The team seems interested in hiring two rookies for the next season and one of them would carry a very important name, even if Haas’ boss didn’t admit it straight. It seems clear that one would be Mick Schumacher, who was already thought to arrive in Formula 1 but with another team, Alfa Romeo who confirmed its two drivers instead.
“We haven't decided to take two rookies, but I can easily talk you through my thoughts about two rookies- Steiner stated- We discussed this, the risks, the opportunities with them. There is obviously a risk that two rookies, they have nobody experienced to look at [for] the data and stuff like this. They need to find out between them what is going on, and there is risk that it goes wrong. But the pros are you can put them in the direction you want to put them, and they grow with the team.”
Such a decision would be extremely risky but the hazard could pay back- “Because it was never done, it doesn't mean that it doesn't work. For sure there is a risk that it doesn't work. I don't want to be ignorant to that one.- the team principal added- We have done a few things different than other people. A few years ago I was asked, 'why do you keep Romain so long? Because nobody has kept anybody so long'.
We don't need to do what other people did. We will do what we think is right, and if it works or not, we will be judged on it - nobody else. We take that risk and we take that opportunity. So if we would take two rookies, we have thought it through. We know the pros and we know the cons, and we will deal with that if we go that way."
