Guenther Steiner insists the MoneyGram Haas F1 Team would like to see an American driver join the team in the future, and he has hinted that Logan Sargeant could be that driver once he earns experience within the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
However, the fact there are currently no drivers from the United States with Formula 1experience meant they went with Nico Hülkenberg alongside Kevin Magnussen for 2023.
With Formula 1 becoming ever more popular in the United States and Haas being the only American team on the grid, they have always been linked with American drivers since they joined the grid in 2015. This link has been increased in 2023 with American sponsors MoneyGram joining Haas, while there will also be three races in the country in Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
However, they have yet to field an American in Formula 1, with the team so far fielding Romain Grosjean, Esteban Gutierrez, Magnussen, Pietro Fittipaldi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin across their seven seasons in the sport. Hülkenberg will replace Schumacher for 2023 to become the seventh different driver to compete for Haas.
“Of course I would like to see an American driver with us,” Haas Team Principal Steiner said to American broadcaster KVUE. “I think what we need to see is the development of an American driver, which is very difficult.
“We had the last two years ago with two rookies, last year with one inexperienced driver. And we as a team are still very young.
“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. Therefore, we decided not to take an American again.”
However, times are changing and 2023 will see an American driver on the grid, with Sargeant becoming the first full-time driver since Scott Speed in 2007 and the first driver from the country since Alexander Rossi raced five times for the Manor F1 Team in 2015.
And Steiner says that once Sargeant has acquired that much needed experience then he would like to see him perhaps make the switch from Williams Racing to Haas.
“There is now an American driver who is going to gain experience and he needs all the support he can get at the moment,” said Steiner. “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?”
