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American drivers slam Haas F1 boss comments

Published on 15 Jan 2018 08:23
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By: Rob Veenstra

Well-known American drivers have hit back at Haas team boss Gunther Steiner. Days ago, Steiner said the small Ferrari-linked American team does not have an American driver because there are none on the market that are ready for F1.

"Complete BS," said Indycar driver Graham Rahal. "If Haas really believes that, why don't you call some of us and give it a shot? American drivers are damn good. There's lots of talent here," he said on Twitter, insisting that Indycar is "far more competitive anyways".

Another Indycar driver, Conor Daly, agrees: "How can you possibly call yourselves an 'American' team and totally berate your entire 'home' nationality of drivers? There hasn't even been a hint of consideration of any well established American drivers over here," he added.

Nascar legend Jeff Gordon said: "F1 teams will never truly embrace an American driver unless they establish them and train them in Europe themselves from age 9 or 10. There's plenty of great talent in America that given the right opportunity and quality equipment could be successful but I don't see it happening any time soon."

Finally, 1978 world champion Mario Andretti called Steiner's comments "wrong and arrogant". (GMM)

juju_hound

Posts: 180

Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve, Alessandro Zanardi, Sebastian Bourdais. All of these guys were champs in Indy but then coming to F1 their career weren't much succesful except Villeneuve who had a decent car. A definition of good driver says he shows good results in not decent car.

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Jan 15 2018 - 09:45

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Replies (10)

juju_hound

Posts: 180
Michael Andretti, Jacques Villeneuve, Alessandro Zanardi, Sebastian Bourdais. All of these guys were champs in Indy but then coming to F1 their career weren't much succesful except Villeneuve who had a decent car. A definition of good driver says he shows good results in not decent car.
- + 1
- Jan 15 2018 - 09:45
xoya

Posts: 583
Steiner really F'd up with that comment!
There are plenty of excellent American drivers from the past (At least 3 of them are F1 legends) and I expect the same trend to continue in the future.

Yes, I am talking about South American drivers.

North American drivers on the other hand... :)
- + 1
- Jan 15 2018 - 09:59
- Pauli
  
  Posts: 140
  :)
  
  Too bad it is quite common to use America as synonym for the United State of America. That would even exclude Villeneuve.
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  Jan 15 2018 - 12:47
mbmwe36

Posts: 533
Well, Steiner's right. I think just about every team would love to have a driver from the USA, for marketing purposes. But the complete lack of American drivers in F1 would suggest that the talent just isn't there.
- + 1
- Jan 15 2018 - 13:42
ajpennypacker

Posts: 2,475
Oh please.. Clearly there aren't any obvious stars. Furthermore Steiner has made it very clear multiple times that they can't afford to have a rookie right now.
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- Jan 15 2018 - 15:48
- mcbhargav
  
  Posts: 1,332
  Technically he is correct. But, its largely due to lack of representation, and interest for F1 in U.S, not due to lack of talent. His comment could have been clear.
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  Jan 15 2018 - 16:50
Kean

Posts: 692
The whole discussion of talented enough put aside, I would love to see more drivers crossing over from other series that F3, GP3, F2 and DTM. In the case of Indycar and drivers from USA, I wouldn't mind seeing someone like Newgarden, Rahal or Rossi get a chance in F1. What if they find another Montoya there somewhere...
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- Jan 15 2018 - 16:35
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
There are good American drivers around for sure, but are there any American drivers that are F1 material? I'd like to see some get a shot. But then again, I'd like to see some Swedish and Japanese drivers get more shots at it aswell, Like Blomqvist, Naoki Yamamoto and so
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- Jan 15 2018 - 21:01
f1ski

Posts: 726
look at all the former f1 drivers racing lemans prototypes. At the top on the ability scale. Not so much in when they were in F1. More than just driving skill there is an intangible required . Look at Kimi he is as fast as ever but has lost something. Rosberg never seemed to have IT until his last 2 seasons.
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- Jan 15 2018 - 23:59
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I beg to disagree. I honestly find that Kimi has lost his speed. One thing he has most certainly lost is his ability to pull off good starts. Did he do one properly good start this year?
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  Jan 16 2018 - 12:08