American F1 Team Haas Could’ve Made Dramatic Entry With NASCAR Star Danica Patrick In Its Lineup

Danica Patrick is undoubtedly one of the leading names when it comes to NASCAR. Patrick is not only the most popular female racing driver in the history of the United States but also a prominent face in women’s racing around the world. Mainly known for her NASCAR accreditation, Patrick, however, had a chance to be in F1.

F1, being the pinnacle of motorsport, could have had its first American female F1 driver in the sport if Haas decided to involve Patrick.

Patrick, who also had vast experience in open-wheel, single-seater like IndyCar, was once regarded as a driver in the line-up of the Haas F1 team. The former professional racing driver was with Haas-Stewart racing at the time, driving in the Sprint Cup Series.

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Haas, who were yet to announce their driver line-up in 2014, regarded Patrick as a possibility due to her vast experience in IndyCar as well as in Junior Formula. However, team owner Gene Haas thought a transition “would be really impossible to accomplish that and survive,” and this is how Danica Patrick’s chance to be in F1 closed.

Haas F1 are still in driver dilemma in 2023

Almost all the teams have their driver line-up confirmed for the upcoming 2023 season, except Haas. The team from America are yet to decide on their drivers for the next season as both Mick Schumacher nor Kevin Magnussen do not have seat confirmation as yet.

The Kannapolis-based team was slated to reveal Mick Schumacher’s future during the race at Austin. Neither, they did clear their position on the German driver, nor they announced any replacement, just like the Williams F1 team. With few races to go, Magnussen’s future also looks to be in jeopardy, as per reports.

Talking about this, Ralf Schumacher, Mick Schumacher’s uncle, conveyed in an interview with Sky Germany, “Anything is possible, of course, especially if we look at the last few races. Who knows, Magnussen may not be so firmly in the seat anymore? If we look at the races since Silverstone, we have to conclude that Mick is the more stable and better of the two drivers.”

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Furthermore, he explained, “He has also had some bad luck with wrong strategies. In the last race [Mexico], Mick was sometimes up to six-tenths faster than Magnussen,” concluded the brother of Michael Schumacher.