BUDAPEST: Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen shrugged aside concerns after their recent collisions and said they felt confident of retaining their seats next year.
The pair collided at both the British and German Grands Prix, crashing out at the first race but surviving to score points at the second.
They have clashed three times this season in all.
Magnussen said they had been unlucky that they had been eliminated by one of their collisions.
“It’s happened a few times this year,“ he said. “It happened at Silverstone and it had a consequence for both of us.
“We had punctures. I think that was pretty unlucky to have two cars puncturing for such a small contact.
“There was no bad intention from either of us in that moment — it was just we came together and then punctured. Later in the race, you see other cars flying into each, flying over the track and nothing happened.
“So we’ve got to look at that as well, to say that it’s just bad luck, really. That’s pretty much it.”
Grosjean said he was more worried about losing his seat last year.
“I made many mistakes that I shouldn’t have done with my experience, but I think since then I recovered pretty well,“ he said.
Earlier Thursday, Haas team chief Guenther Steiner said he planned to take a hard-line approach with his drivers, including reducing their decision-making options.
“I’m going to sit down with them. Let’s see what comes out of it, how they see it and what we need to do to go forward in the future.
“Maybe it ends up that we tell them what to do, decide who is doing what — when they are close to each other - and then, when they are close to each other, I think we need to take it out of their control who is doing what.
“I think I have to be firmer. It’s the only solution, to be firm with them and tell them what to do and when they get close to each other, go from there.” — AFP
