Steiner regrets the lack of American pilots
While the United States is at the heart of F1 with three Grand Prix races on its soil, Günther Steiner, director of the Haas team, laments that Uncle Sam is not more represented.
Logan Sergeant, 22 years old, will experience his first season in F1 in 2023 as a full-time driver for Williams. He is thus the first American to race in the premier category since Scott Speed in 2007. While Günther Steiner supports the young driver, he admits that the lack of experience is the main reason Haas did not wish to hire him.
“As a team, we are still very young. We are still the newest team in F1. And for us, right now, there is more performance to be gained for the team to improve, to be ready, because at the moment there is no American driver with F1 experience,” he confides to the Texan channel KVUE.
Haas would nevertheless like to field an American driver but not at any price. The American team is searching for experience. « They would need an American driver who has experience, and that is not the case for the moment,” he declares.
I wish for him to gain some experience. Then, once he has enough, he will come to us, the American team. What do you think?
Steiner is dissatisfied.
More broadly, Steiner criticizes the lack of support from the United States towards their young drivers. « There is an American arriving in F1 and there aren’t many people around it […]. There is no American driver with F1 experience. There is one who will succeed, he needs all the support he can get, and I don’t think that’s the case at the moment. »
American driver Colton Herta, currently racing in IndyCar with Andretti Autosport, had tried to join AlphaTauri for the 2023 season, but a lack of points on his Super License prevented him from doing so.
