"We don't think any Americans are qualified to race in Formula 1" - IndyCar driver discloses F1 snub by Haas in 2016
Haas made its debut in F1 in 2017 as the only American team on the grid. Instead of giving the opportunity to one of the American drivers, however, the team opted for the combination of Esteban Gutierrez and Romain Grosjean. There weren't that many American drivers anyway in F1 at the time bar one, Alexander Rossi, who had been cutting his teeth working with Manor and Caterham at the back of the grid for a few years.
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On the latest episode of the Beyond the Grid podcast, Rossi recapped how he was snubbed by the American outfit, saying:
“Yeah, so there was some conversation. Then, in Monza of 2015, without mincing any words, [the message] from management [was], We are not interested in you. We don’t think any Americans are qualified to race in Formula 1 at this point, and you’re best to go off and go your own way. And that was the conversation.”
Haas hasn't put in any American driver in seven years of F1
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Alexander Rossi has taken the rebuff in his stride over the years as he admitted that such a thing is a part of the sport. There are sponsors to take care of and there is a revenue stream that they have to manage which can make things very difficult. Rossi did, however, mention that Haas had been part of the sport for the last 7 years but the team had not given the opportunity to even a single American driver until now. He said:
“The Haas conversations were very short and to the point. It’s just a part of the sport. If I had to say that I had a problem with something, it is purely that there are commitments and there are things that were said and done, and paths that ultimately didn’t happen for one reason or another, and that’s the disenchanting thing about it. But that’s the way life goes. That’s the way that it works. We see it even over here in the States in IndyCar, to a lesser scale obviously, but the budgets are much less so it all kind of makes sense. But, ultimately, we haven’t seen an American in a Haas car in seven years. Forget me, they haven’t put anyone in.”
Rossi, on his part, left F1 at the end of that season and joined IndyCar where he fought for the championship in 2018 and 2019 and was also the winner of the Indy500.
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