“It’s not as much a no-brainer”- Haas’ Guenther Steiner speaks on rumours of Sergio Perez signing for the American F1 team in 2020.
Sergio Perez’s imminent departure from Racing Point raised an obvious question, where will the Mexican driver go next season? His options are limited and Haas is one of them.
Talking on the rumours of Perez joining the only American Formula 1 team, Guenther Steiner has clarified that despite Perez being a lucrative prospect, there are still uncertainties, which should be clarified.
“There is nothing out there at the moment which is a no-brainer because there are so many options out there,” Steiner said ahead of this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix.
“We need to try to make the best decision for the team mid-to-long term, not only the immediate. Because immediately, we don’t have an issue, but we need to see where we want to go mid-to-long term because there is where the opportunity is. We need to fix that one.”
“It’s not that we need some quick cash for next year, we are actually fine on that. It’s a mid-to-long term, how can we get better? How can we get the best out of the team?”
“How can we get back to our performance of 2018 and better? I think there is more opportunity now with the budget cap coming from next year onwards and the new regulations for 2022.”
“It’s a lot more complex… For sure Checo is a good driver, I would never doubt about him, but is he the best for the mid-to-long term? I don’t know. That is what we are discussing and therefore it’s not as much a no-brainer as it seems to be.”
I get the feeling that Grosjean has already been given the news to clear out his locker at Haas at the end of the season. To come out now and say ‘I have options elsewhere’ suggests to me that he already knows his future… and that it isn’t at Haas.#F1PP
— F1 Paddock Pass (@F1PaddockPass) September 24, 2020
Haas not worried about losing targetted prospects
Steiner has told that his side is not giving much thought of losing targetted drivers to the rival teams who have more muscle and financial power than them.
I’m not concerned because there is enough in there that you could get a good one out of it,” he explained. “If it was clear-cut we would actually be entering talks with any one of these people.”
“We know there are only a certain amount of seats available and a lot more good drivers than open seats. I’m not saying good seats, because some of them are not this good which is open. But they are seats. So I am not concerned.”
