For Haas, Perez is not necessarily an obvious choice

Experience and money

Haas has been at the back for two years now and doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the rest of the grid. In that sense, a very experienced driver like Sergio Perez could be interesting, also because the Mexican with his sponsors can bring a lot of money. Two strong advantages that make him interesting for the American team.

Autosport asked Steiner how he thinks about this. Steiner: "There is nothing at the moment which is a no-brainer because there are so many options. You need to make the best decision for the team mid to long-term, not only the immediate. Because immediately, we don't have an issue, but we need to see where we want to go in mid to long-term, because that is where the opportunity is in my opinion. We need to fix that one."

"It's not that we just need some quick cash for next year. We're actually fine with that. It's a mid to long-term: how can we get better? How can we get the best out of the team? How can we get back to our performance of 2018 and better?"

Budgetcap

With the advent of the budget cap and new rules in 2022, the field should come closer together and that is where Steiner sees the potential. "I think there is more opportunity now with the budget cap coming from next year onwards and the new regulations from 2022. For sure, Checo is a good driver, I would never doubt him. But is he the best for the mid to long term? I don't know.

"That is what we are discussing, so therefore it is not such a no-brainer as it seems to be."

In any case, Haas has plenty of choice, because it's not limited to the existing pool of drivers, rookies can also be an option. But that's up to Ferrari, because the Italian top team is helping Haas at the moment because of the COVID problems. In this way, Ferrari has a say in who comes to Haas.

"We help each other this way," concludes Steiner.