Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

'Good chance' of Haas F1 seat - Vergne

Jean-Eric Vergne believes he has "a rather good chance" of returning to F1 by landing a drive with the Haas F1 Team in 2016.

Haas will join the grid next season having entered in to a technical partnership with Ferrari, and Vergne is one of five drivers on the team's shortlist for a race seat. Having signed up for DS Virgin Racing in Formula E next season - of which two rounds clash with the F1 calendar - Vergne says he will work out a solution if and when the issue arises.

“There are three of us, for two seats,” Vergne told Motorsport.com. “Let's say there is a rather good chance for me to end up with Haas. Then, as far as Formula E is concerned, that's too early to talk about it.

“If F1 comes, there will be two clashes. It's way too early to say how that will go. I hope to have that kind of problem to sort out, that would be a good one to have! But today, I am focused on Formula E, and very much as well on my work with Ferrari, which of course pays off to land in the Haas team.”

Referencing three drivers, Vergne's main competition comes in the form of fellow Ferrari reserve Esteban Gutierrez, while Nico Hulkenberg is also on Haas' radar. Verne has been working with Ferrari since being dropped by Toro Rosso at the end of last season.

Team owner Gene Haas recently admitted the shortlist has been reduced to five drivers at present and he expects to start making a decision on next year's drivers by early September.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.