Formula 1

F1 News: Guenther Steiner Reveals Why Haas Were Not Interested In Logan Sargeant For 2023

Haas team chief Guenther Steiner has discussed the possibility of bringing an American driver to the team in the wake of Andretti Autosport joining forces with Cadillac to put themselves forward to join the F1 grid with an “all-American” team.

Haas is currently the only American team in the sport, and many have questioned if they were interested in bringing Florida-born Logan Sargeant on board, who is about to have his rookie season with Williams.

During an interview with KVUE, a Texan television station, Steiner was quizzed on what Haas is waiting for to bring on a driver from the US. He responded:

“Absolutely we would like to see it, but I think the answer is not a simple ‘what would it take?’

“I mean, what would it take is a consequence. So I think what we need to see is to make a development of an American driver, which is very difficult.”

The American team has previously signed experienced drivers since joining the grid in 2016. However, they chose to sign two rookie drivers for the 2021 season with German driver Mick Schumacher and Russian driver Nikita Mazepin. As the team heads into the 2023 season, they have more experienced drivers, Kevin Magnussen who drove for them last year, and Nico Hulkenberg who is making his comeback to a permanent seat. Steiner went on to explain why they have decided to go for drivers with more experience this time:

“We had the last two years with two rookies, last year with one [inexperienced driver]. And we as a team are still very young. We are still the newest team in F1. And for us at the moment there is more performance to be gained for the team to make it better, to get ready, because at the moment there is no American driver with experience in F1.”

Sargeant will be the first American driver on the F1 grid since 2015. Steiner went on to confirm that he will “support Sargeant.” He added:

“There is an American coming to F1 and there is not a lot of things around that. I missed that a little bit because everyone says, ‘we want an American driver, we want to make a driver.’ Okay, Haas hasn’t got an American driver, but I still support Sargeant, what he’s doing, because he puts the feet in very cold water here. But there’s not a lot [of noise] behind it.

So there is, I would say, no American driver with experience in F1. And there is one which is going to make it, and he needs all the support he can get at the moment. And I don’t think at the moment it’s there. So hopefully it comes, because I wish that he makes experience and then once he has made experience, he comes to us, the American team. How about that?”

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