Gutierrez and Rossi for Haas F1 team? (Update)
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| Mexican Esteban Gutierrez |
As the summer comes on, the driver market for next season begins to click into motion and for 2016 there is an extra team for drivers to aim for; Haas F1 Team. It may be a start-up, but it’s an attractive seat as the team has strong links to Ferrari.
The new Haas F1 team is taking shape and next weekend in Canada Gene Haas, team boss Gunter Steiner and other execs will be on hand to continue their preparations for their F1 debut.
The talk in Monaco last weekend was that Esteban Gutierrez is in pole position to get one of the seats; he is currently Ferrari reserve driver and the commercial tie-ups with his sponsors from Mexico seem to be working with Ferrari. He is 23 and has two years of F1 racing experience with Sauber.
As the summer comes on, the driver market for next season begins to click into motion and for 2016 there is an extra team for drivers to aim for; Haas F1 Team. It may be a start-up, but it’s an attractive seat as the team has strong links to Ferrari.
The new Haas F1 team is taking shape and next weekend in Canada Gene Haas, team boss Gunter Steiner and other execs will be on hand to continue their preparations for their F1 debut.
The talk in Monaco last weekend was that Esteban Gutierrez is in pole position to get one of the seats; he is currently Ferrari reserve driver and the commercial tie-ups with his sponsors from Mexico seem to be working with Ferrari. He is 23 and has two years of F1 racing experience with Sauber.
There have been grumbles from Ferrari’s rivals that they are taking advantage of the wind-tunnel regulations, which say that a new team that has not entered F1 yet can spend unlimited time in the tunnel and that there is some vagueness about what Haas parts are being tried out in the Maranello tunnel and what Ferrari parts….but even their fiercest rivals admit that Ferrari has been very clever in its strategic partnership with Haas.
Looking at the current F1 grid, and bearing in mind the Ferrari connections, Sergio Perez is at Force India and may be uncertain about their long term plans, given the lateness surrounding the building of this year’s car. But he had a very strong run in Monaco and the team is making noises about keeping both him and Nico Hulkenberg, who is another driver Haas might have in mind in their more ambitious moments. Hulkenberg is not getting any closer to driving for a top team, despite being on the 'maybes' list of a number over the last few seasons. There is a sense that Ferrari will retain Raikkonen for 2016 and is lining up Valtteri Bottas for 2017, so is there a place for Hulkenberg anyway? A Haas drive would showcase him to Ferrari, but it would be a risk going backwards at this stage of his career.
At Lotus Romain Grosjean has had a year of total disappointment in 2014 and while this year is better, he may be wondering if he’s on the right track, especially with the uncertainty around the team’s future. They are adamant that the team is not for sale, but paddock sources suggest that Genii boss Gerard Lopez is out of love with F1 and it’s the most likely route for Renault to re-enter as a team owner, but the delay is that Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn has said that they must fix their engine problems before they can consider that move.
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| American Alexander Rossi |
Haas has said that he’d like an American driver and the only one currently with a super license is Alex Rossi, who is on his third season in GP2 and competing with Stoffel Vandoorne (a likely McLaren candidate for next season?) for the title. But if Haas is thinking he would benefit from having two established drivers, one of whom is Gutierrez, then maybe the American driver is something to build towards.
Interestingly, in the same interview, Haas indicated that he’s changed his plan slightly and will start out as more European based than originally envisaged. Once the team is up to speed, then more of the work will be done in his extensive facilities in
"I think the idea is to learn as much as we can from whoever we can. We’re dealing with Ferrari a lot on technical aspects. Dallara is also helping us in the design and building of the chassis. The idea is once we get over this initial hurdle, then to start bringing some pieces of the car back into the U.S," said Haas.
"We have the ability to do carbon fiber layup and machining (in Kannapolis). The machine shop is making parts for wind tunnel testing we’re doing. … As time goes on, more and more of that will be done in the United States. The Banbury facility is more (about) logistics; when the car comes back (from races) and where we have to store cars and stuff like that." James Allen on F1
05/13/15 (GMM) Esteban Gutierrez appears to be in pole position to head the new Haas team's driver lineup next year.
According to Italy's Autosprint, the Mexican had a "long meeting" with the incoming American team's owner Gene Haas over the course of the Spanish grand prix weekend.
Haas, also a Nascar team co-owner, was visiting the Barcelona paddock following reports an internal deadline for the driver decision has been set for September.
It was believed that American Alexander Rossi, the former Marussia and Caterham tester who now races in GP2, was a prime candidate for the North Carolina-based team.
"We've obviously spoken with Haas," Rossi admitted last year.
But another obvious favorite is 23-year-old Gutierrez, the Sauber race driver of 2013 and 2014 who has now taken his Mexican backers to Ferrari.
He attends every race as official reserve driver for Ferrari, who will power and support the Haas outfit from next year.
Haas Automation, Gene Haas' machine tool company, is also a sponsor of the Maranello based team.
"Gutierrez could be the experienced driver Haas is looking for," said Autosprint, "while reinforcing the link between the American team and Ferrari."
Meanwhile, Autosprint also reported that former F1 tire supplier Michelin could compete with Pirelli in the forthcoming tender process to become the sport's official partner from 2017.