"Why do you think he has left McLaren?"- Haas boss non-committal about Daniel Ricciardo joining team

Haas boss Guenther Steiner has seemingly distanced himself from associating with Daniel Ricciardo in the near future.

There were reports from ESPNF1 last week that the Australian was called by Haas for a prospective association. Steiner, though, alluded during the Belgian GP that the team may not go for the McLaren driver.

“Everyone thinks now Danny (is available) we have to take Daniel – maybe we don’t want Daniel?," said Steiner. "Why do you think he has left McLaren? We need to be careful here. It’s not just about what we have done; it’s what we can do.”

Steiner also said that Mick Schumacher could be part of Haas next season, and discussions are ongoing with him and a few other drivers.

“We all know who is on the market, and if you are now asking me for the next 15 minutes ‘have you spoken to this and this guy?’, either I say no or yes," said Steiner. "I speak with everybody. We see what we’re going to do. Everybody assumes Mick is not here any more next year, also that is not true. Everything is open still."

Steiner added that the team has not finalised their driver lineup for next season. He said:

“We have not made any decisions what we are doing next year with the drivers. Obviously we are speaking, we are talking, we are informing ourselves. That is my duty towards the team and towards the owner of the team.”

Guenther enjoyed the atmosphere on the return of the #DutchGP last year and is looking forward to heading back to Zandvoort this weekend 🇳🇱

Check out his latest Q&A in our event preview 👉 bit.ly/3e79edD

#HaasF1 https://t.co/FAImk7RPh4

The Haas boss also praised Mick Schumacher and said that the German was performing better in the last quarter before the summer break. When asked how he could retain his seat in the team for next season, Steiner said that a good performance could make all the difference.

“Give us a good performance, and we’ll be fine, there’s nothing new to say," said Steiner. "He knows it. I don’t need to tell him. He’s a race car driver, he knows what he needs to do and what everybody in a race team needs to do, performing and doing your job.”

Daniel Ricciardo endures poor weekend at Spa

Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, could not do much to raise his stock in Spa. The driver endured an underwhelming weekend, finishing in P15. Talking about the weekend at Spa, he said that the team suffered due to a lack of pace.

A tough day in the office. More work to do, but we go again in Zandvoort. 👊

#BelgianGP 🇧🇪 https://t.co/Nw6BGXrtpm

"I think it was visible to see our struggles today. Not to be pessimistic, but I knew coming into the race that we would probably find it hard through the first and third sector with the rear wing that we were forced to use from yesterday. Obviously, I hoped that I'd have enough speed in the second sector to try and make something happen - but we just couldn't overtake with the speed we had."

Ricciardo's teammate Lando Norris could only finish P12 and did not have the straight-line speed to overtake other cars. Ricciardo's contract ends at the end of this season, so it will be interesting to see if he can land a seat for next season.