McLaren boss Zak Brown praised IndyCar stars Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, believing their 'outstanding talent' is worthy of Formula 1.
Brown offered his opinion on the controversial debate sparked recently by Haas' Guenther Steiner, who believes there are currently no US drivers who could race competitively in F1.
Steiner's assessment led to a backlash reaction from the IndyCar community. At a press conference at Daytona yesterday, Brown chimed in on the subject and disagreed with the Haas boss' comments.
"The biggest challenge you have is the lack of testing," Brown said.
"You only get eight pre-season days of testing and even that is with one car, so you rotate drivers. To take away a day from Fernando’s four and Stoffel [Vandoorne]’s four makes no sense.
"So until that rule changes, it will be difficult for a driver outside of the Formula 1 arena, or Formula 2, to break into Formula 1, because they have such a disadvantage.
"The system doesn’t really allow you to bring someone in, so I think it’s great that Toro Rosso took someone like Brendon Hartley because there’s risk with that decision – but he knows all those tracks.
"Specifically, I think Josef Newgarden is an outstanding talent, and Kiwi Scott Dixon is an outstanding talent."
While last year's IndyCar champion is only 27, the same age as Toro Rosso rookie Brendon Hartley, Dixon is 37, one year older than Fernando Alonso.
Brown discards the age factor however and actually sees a lot in common between the Spaniard and the Kiwi.
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"I think what happens to drivers is that they eventually lose motivation, that’s what catches up with them, said the United Autosports and McLaren boss.
"So if you look at someone like Michael Schumacher, he was very competitive into his 40s.
"Had he not taken those few years off, those last couple of tenths [of a second] he was maybe off [on his return in 2010], I don’t think he would have been, and he was in his 40s.
"Fernando has that same type of dedication. I think Fernando is driving as well as he’s ever driven and just because he’s going to turn 37 later this year, I don’t think the stopwatch is going to get any slower.
"Someone like Scott Dixon reminds me of Fernando, where he’s extremely fit, very dedicated, as fast as ever, and I think he would be competitive in a Formula 1 car."
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