Haas Formula: Danica Patrick would be the “dream driver”
The Haas Formula team would ideally like to have an experienced driver alongside an American driver. Explanations of some potential choices for the future newcomer to F1.
Gene Haas explains to *Autosport* the duo of drivers he would like to have in his cars to start the 2016 season. He states: The first driver will obviously be an active F1 driver with experience with the current chassis and power unit. The other seat is still under discussion. It would be fantastic to have an American driver there – it would be a true “home run”: an American team with an American driver in a European category. It would be phenomenal. But we are very flexible on this point. Realistically, the most important thing is to ensure we don’t embarrass the sport, to come prepared and ready to race.
The Caterham and Marussia Hares and the Haas Tortoise
Witnessing the difficult experiences of the Caterham and Marussia teams, which scored points only once between them in four years, the machine tool giant has chosen a more measured but ambitious approach. He explains: « We don’t want to perpetually race at the back of the grid. We want to be able to start these races by improving each time. That’s why we delayed by a year, because we believe we can make better use of our time by setting up the team rather than putting people on the spot. »
« This is what happens when you have deadlines to meet. Once you have hired the wrong people, it can sometimes take longer to part ways with them than to recruit someone competent if you take the time to recruit that person; that’s where we are. We are going to take our time in the next three to six months to ensure that the people we hire have the skills to help us achieve our goals, » he explains.
The American Trail
In the possibilities from across the Atlantic, the name of driver Danica Patrick, who races in NASCAR for Stewart-Haas, was mentioned as a dream driver by Gene Haas. Indeed, he was responding to the official Formula 1 website about his interest in the American for his team: she’s a woman in a man’s sport, she would attract all the attention. Additionally, she must weigh about 50 kilos, which is very appreciable these days, she has many assets to showcase. She could perfectly fit into the project.
However, the American driver will be 34 years old in 2016, when Haas F1 plans to enter Formula 1, which would probably be a bit late for a first experience in the top category.
The other possibility, the most probable, would be the young test driver of the Caterham team, Alexander Rossi. In addition to his F1 experience, he competes in the feeder series to the top category, GP2. Also in this category is the young Conor Daly. However, it should be noted that both drivers have not scored any points after six races in 2014.
