"There is nobody out there at the moment", says team principal
Friday 11 September 2015 09:54, UK
Haas won't have an American driver in 2016 as the team feel "there is nobody out there at the moment".
The squad are set to make their F1 debut next year and a host of drivers have been linked with their two seats.
The team have strong ties with Ferrari and that means one of the Scuderia's reserve drivers is expected to fill one of the seats, with Esteban Gutierrez seemingly the most likely candidate.
Team boss Gene Haas had originally stated that fielding a young American in one of his cars "would be the ideal situation", leading to speculation GP2 frontrunner Alexander Rossi could be in contention.
However, team principal Guenther Steiner has ruled out Haas having an American driver next year.
"There is nobody out there at the moment. Yes, there are drivers in GP2 and Formula 3, but having a rookie in a new team... that is difficult for both sides," he told the official F1 website.
"The potential of such a partnership failing is pretty high. So at the moment we'd rather not be looking at that avenue, because you are also not helping an inexperienced driver - he could be burned in one season. We are new, so we need a known quantity in the team."
Haas were thought to interest in the services of Nico Hulkenberg before the German agreed a new deal at Force India, but Steiner still hopes to make an announcement soon.
"I don't want to drop names at this time, but we're pretty confident that by the end of September we will announce at least one driver," he added.
"We are negotiating with two of them, but nothing is done. We are very close to some drivers - and at the end of September we will come forward. It is good to get another box ticked!"
