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Haas F1 Team Will Have Completely New Driver Lineup in 2021

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Romain Grosjean in the Haas VF-19
Photo: Artes Max via CC

The Haas F1 Team has announced that both of its drivers, Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean, will not continue with the team for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

Grosjean has been with the American team for all five years of its existence, and Magnussen has been with the team for four years. While Haas F1 had a strong fifth-place finish in the constructors championship in 2018, it slipped to ninth in 2019 and remains there so far in 2020.


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Neither Grosjean nor Magnussen have managed to score a podium for Haas, despite both drivers having stepped on the podium before — Magnussen on his debut for McLaren in 2014, and Grosjean 10 times with Lotus.

It’s unlikely that either driver will find a seat for 2021, as there are few, if any, openings at other teams. Rather, the question now is: who will fill their seats at Haas F1?


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Potential candidates

Team boss Gunther Steiner says that so far, no decision has been made on next year’s drivers, and there are at least six candidates the team is likely to consider. The two most obvious are Sergio Pérez and Nico Hülkenberg.

Pérez will be out of a drive in 2021 when Vettel replaces him at the new Aston Martin Racing team. Hülkenberg is already out of a drive, but has shown up on three race weekends in 2020 as a substitute driver for Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Pérez himself. His performances were impressive enough that many people believe he has a shot at getting a seat in 2021, should one become available. However, both of those drivers have also been linked to Alexander Albon’s seat at Red Bull Racing and thus, at least one of them may be unavailable.

Should Haas F1 pass on either Pérez or Hülkenberg, there are four junior drivers who have a good shot at the two seats. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin are the top candidates, unless Haas F1 wants at least one experienced driver rather than two rookies, in which case it could go with a combination of Pérez/Hülkenberg with either Schumacher or Mazepin. However, if that were the case, Haas F1 could have simply kept either Grosjean or Magnussen.

More likely, the American team will field two rookies in the end. Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott, both currently competing in Formula 2, have outside chances, but don’t have the backing of their rivals. There are a lot of expectations for Schumacher, son of the seven-time champion, and Mazepin has a billionaire father supporting him.

We’ll have to wait an undetermined amount of time before we know for sure who is going to fill those two seats at Haas F1 Team. There are still six races left in 2020, and Steiner is taking his time.

“There are quite a few opportunities out there,” Steiner said. “And they’re not going away, because the market is pretty small this year. And I think we are lucked into that one this year. So that is the reason why we are not in a hurry to make the announcements.”