Magnussen latest contender for Haas seat

Former McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen has said that he “would love to race for Haas” next year if McLaren do not put him back in a race seat.

McLaren’s Racing Director Eric Boullier has stated that the team “intends” to keep its driver line-up of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso for 2016, leaving Magnussen with a race seat at Haas or another year on the sidelines as his main options for next year.

“I'm not going to name the teams I'm in contact with,” Magnussen told AUTOSPORT, “All I'll say is this - it's been widely reported I'm in Haas's thoughts. In fact Gene has admitted that in recent interviews.

"I think he and Guenther [Steiner] are both very smart guys, and the way they're going about launching their new F1 team is clever and innovative. So, yes, if there's no McLaren race drive available for me, then of course I'd love to race for Haas.”

McLaren recently said that if Magnussen wanted to drive for Haas then they wouldn’t block the Dane’s move. In fact, Ron Dennis may even be encouraging the move as he admitted earlier in the year that he owes Magnussen a drive, after dropping him at the end of the 2014 in favour of Alonso.

"Having spent six years with McLaren, learning from some of the best drivers and engineers in the business, and because of the unique opportunity I've had to increase my technical knowledge this year, I think I'm very well placed to play a leading role in helping set up a new F1 team,” Magnussen added.

Haas have been revealing more information regarding their line-up for next year, but with nobody in particular being specified. Former Sauber race driver and current Ferrari test and reserve Esteban Gutierrez still looks to be favourite as he is a member of the Ferrari family, which Haas said at least one of their drivers would be a part of, and is a marketable driver given the team is American.

However, Haas have also said that they will not be signing an American driver which rules out GP2 driver Alexander Rossi, who was also in contention for the seat.

Former Toro Rosso race driver and current Ferrari test and development driver Jean-Eric Vergne is another contender for the seat. Again, he is part of the Ferrari family and is a well known quantity in terms of his speed.

Romain Grosjean recently added his name to the list of contenders as well, as the Frenchman’s future at Lotus is not entirely secured whilst the Enstone outlet await news from Renault on a potential takeover.

A decision from Haas regarding their drivers is expected by the end of this month.

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