One of the biggest stories in the sport to date is the formation of Haas F1 in 2016. Established by Nascar Sprint Cup series co-owner, Gene Haas, they will make their debut next year. On 29 September, they announced that Lotus driver, Romain Grosjean, would be driving for the outfit in their maiden season. It was expected that they would have followed that up with who would be partnering the Frenchman, but two weeks on, there is still no indication when or who that will be.
Who Will Drive For Haas F1 in 2016?
With the fact that Ferrari are providing Haas with their engines, and giving them a lot of technical support, it is highly believed that the second driver will come from Maranello. Their test drivers of Esteban Gutierrez and Jean-Eric Verne are seemingly then the favourites to take the second Haas seat for next season. Guitereez is the most likely of the two to be appointed, due to the fact he is from Mexico and this will attract more interest and sponsorship having a driver from the Americas has part of the team.
The delay in the announcement has raised the question if it is as straight forward as the media and fans first thought. Could the situation at Red Bull, and it’s sister team Toro Rosso, be delaying the next announcement? With the public fighting and divorce between Red Bull and Renault, they haven’t able to secure an engine package for 2016, and there is now a real threat of both teams not been able to participate for next season. If this was to occur, then that will leave four more drivers in the window for the possible second Haas seat; Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kyvat, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Junior.
Any of the four would be a good addition to the Haas outfit, so it difficult to determine who would be favoured. A big telling point is the American team’s association with Ferrari. There is so much support being handed to them by Maranello that the feeling is that Ferrari is looking at this outfit as an active feeder team, the way Toro Rosso is for Red Bull. If that is the case, then maybe it not just Haas who is deciding on their driver line-up, but also Ferrari. With Raikkonen’s contract up in 2016, then they will be looking for a replacement, and might be using Haas as a way of deciding who that may be.
Who would be the favourite to get it if it was to come down to these four? Ricciardo has the most experience, and is the only one of the four to have won in F1. He was regarded as the driver of the year in 2014, for consistently out-performing his team-mate, four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. Would Ferrari partner Vettel and Ricciardo together again? They got on well as team-mates, but Ricciardo’s ability seemed to unsettle the German. He has now found a sweet spot at the Maranello outfit, and they will not want to upset that, so it unlikely that the Australian would be considered for Ferrari, and is probably not a strong contender for the Haas seat. The other three are young, up and coming drivers, who are showing huge potential to succeed in the sport. His new team-mate, Kyvat, has hugely impressed after a shaky start to the season. The Russian is currently ahead of Ricciardo in the championship standings. He is only 21, but will have had two seasons in F1 after the year ends, so cannot be deemed in lacking in experience at this level. The Toro Rosso pair of Verstappen and Sainz are both in their rookie seasons. The main focus has been on Verstappen, as he is the youngest driver ever to compete in the sport. He has hugely impressed with his fearless attitude, resulting in some of the best overtakes of the season. He is regarded by many critics as the hottest young prospect the sport has had of a long time. Sainz is three years older than the Belgian-born teenager, and lies 21 points behind in the standings, but his season has been littered with more retirements. The Spaniard has shown his ability when the car hasn’t let him down, and was ahead of Verstappen in the first half of the season. He has more experience in sports car racing than his team-mate, and shown after his huge crash at Sochi at weekend his strength of character, as he was back in the car the following day.
With Grosjean hired for his experience and proven ability, then the second driver will be chosen for their potential. Whoever it will be is less certain now as it was a fortnight ago with the driver market opening up with the troubles associated with Red Bull and Toro Rosso. What does seem certain is that Ferrari will be having a say on who will drive for Haas in 2016, as they look to replace Raikkonen for 2017.
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