Haas leaning towards keeping driver line-up intact

Haas F1's Guenther Steiner says that while the US outfit has not yet defined its driver line-up for next season, it will not wait too long before confirming its decision.

Neither Romain Grosjean nor Esteban Gutierrez have been confirmed for 2017, although both men are expected to have their contract extended with an announcement expected around, or just after, the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix.

Looking at the current drivers' market, and the eventual availability of drivers such as Jenson Button, Felipe Massa or Kevin Magnussen, Steiner believes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

"I don't think we want to wait this long, because you risk it," said Steiner.

"If you know where you are, it's better than having uncertainty. We are very confident we can say it after Monza. We do what we want to do.

"It gives the team certainty and you can focus on next year, on the car, and on performance."

Haas is already hard at work on its 2017 challenger but will nevertheless introduce an upgrade package, its first this season, for its VF-16 chassis.

"These parts were developed in March/April and just went into production a little bit later," Steiner said.

"We didn't want to rush them because we want to get better with production as well for next year.

"As everybody knows, the second year is the most difficult one and it still will be, but we'll try to do as much as possible not to make mistakes in the second year. "

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