Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner says running Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi in multiple practice sessions this season, was ‘not positive’ for the team.
Giovinazzi, who was beaten to a Sauber seat by fellow Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson, took part in seven practice session, replacing Kevin Magnussen in every one.
This followed his maiden F1 race outings for Sauber in Australia and China, replacing the injured Pascal Wehrlein.
“I don’t think it helped us or our drivers,” he said when speaking to Danish tabloid newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
“I cannot say how negative it was, but it was not positive. We will see what we are doing next year, but we have not talked about it yet.”
Steiner said it was a ‘straightforward’ decision to not accept Ferrari’s request to place Giovinazzi in a full-time race seat in 2018.
“They asked (us to give him a seat),” Steiner said, “but if you don’t ask you don’t get what you want.
“They did not pressure us. We quickly clarified that we have two drivers next year. It was pretty straightforward.”
The 2016 GP2 vice-champion’s deal with Haas will not continue into 2018, instead, he will be Sauber’s third driver and will take part in six FP1s for the Swiss outfit.
