Gene Haas: “There are no changes coming” for the drivers in 2018
For his second season in F1, Gene Haas is satisfied with his driver duo. He therefore intends to keep Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen for next year.
We went exclusively to meet Gene Haas in the Silverstone paddock on the very morning of the British Grand Prix.
If the race did not go as well as Romain Grosjean’s 10th place on the grid might have suggested, the team’s situation has not changed; it remains 7th in the Constructors’ Championship with 29 points.
This balance sheet is a question of the glass being half-full or half-empty since it is precisely the number of points the team earned over the whole of last year, which allowed them to finish 8th. But the American businessman is not entirely satisfied with this situation: “We missed some opportunities, we could have scored a few more points.”
However, one of the major differences compared to last season is that the points were earned by both drivers (18 for Romain Grosjean, 11 for Kevin Magnussen) whereas the Frenchman was able to bring in all of Haas’ points in 2016. This complementarity is an important element for a team, which is only twelve points away from fifth place in the Constructors’ standings. It’s so close that it can shift from one weekend to the next depending on whether a team has a good weekend or a bad one. There isn’t a big margin.
For a young team, it is therefore important to be able to establish stability, and that is what the team intends to do for its drivers, who they are satisfied with: « Currently, our drivers for next year are our drivers from this year. There are no changes coming. »
However, it is still possible that Gene Haas does not have 100% of the decision on this highly sensitive issue, due to his partnership with Ferrari. Thus, the Scuderia has placed one of its protégés, Antonio Giovinazzi, for seven free practice sessions, which began at Silverstone.
But another name is increasingly circulating strongly in the paddock lanes, that of Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque is dominating the F2 championship head and shoulders above the rest, as his sixth consecutive pole and his fifth victory of the season attested this weekend. It seems inconceivable that Ferrari would deprive itself of such a gem and not go all out to find him a seat.
The transfer market might not be as closed as that for the American team…
From our special correspondent in Silverstone
