Romain Grosjean was happy for his Haas F1 Team to hire Esteban Gutierrez as his team-mate for 2016, and gave an endorsement to his new bosses about the Mexican driver.
Team owner Gene Haas and team principal Gunther Steiner asked Frenchman Grosjean for his opinion about Gutierrez, who had spent 2015 working as the reserve driver at the Scuderia Ferrari team after relatively unsuccessful two seasons racing for Sauber.
“When we picked Romain we spoke with him about Esteban,” said Steiner to Autosport. “If he had said he didn’t get on with him or something, or if there was no respect more than anything else, it would have been hard [to then sign him].
“Obviously Esteban is a good driver, but we didn’t know him then as well as Romain, who had raced against him. Romain knows his technique as a driver, and knows more about him as a guy, whether he is stable or unstable, and he was very positive about him.”
Steiner also commented that he believes that Grosjean and Gutierrez will form a good, positive line-up for Haas’ debut season in Formula 1.
“What we think is they will get on pretty well because they are both intelligent guys, and not just as race car drivers, but as human beings in general,” said Steiner.
“They’ve both had a good education, they are at a good level, and I think they will get on – or at least I hope so.”
