Haas will keep Santino Ferrucci as part of its driver program despite his recent controversies in Formula 2, according to Guenther Steiner.

Ferrucci lost his F2 seat with Trident for his conduct both on and off the track at the Silverstone round this season, which included hitting teammate Arjun Maini’s car after the checkered flag. The American was banned for four F2 rounds as a result of his actions, while he was also sued by Trident over alleged moneys owed to the team.

However, the 20-year-old will race for Dale Coyne Racing in Portland and Sonoma at the end of the IndyCar season, and Haas team principal Steiner says Ferrucci will not be dropped by the F1 team.

“I think we’ll keep him for the time being on the program,” Steiner said. “We’ll see what he’s going to do in IndyCar and stay with that one. The guy is trying to make a career, and we don’t want to pull the rug from under his feet.”

While willing to confirm Ferrucci will remain part of the Haas line-up, Steiner is less committal about the team’s race drivers for next season.

“We’re making very good progress. We’re just going through the motions. We did a lot over the break, but we haven’t come to the complete conclusion. Nevertheless, I think we’re in a good place, it’s just like I cannot say anything yet because we are still working through a few bits and bobs.

“Just at the moment, we’re in a good place. I’m very happy with the progress that we made, but we’ve just not come to the conclusion. It isn’t far off, what we’re going to do.”

With Daniel Ricciardo opening up the driver market by moving to Renault next year — leading to Pierre Gasly joining Red Bull and Carlos Sainz replacing Fernando Alonso at McLaren — Steiner says the surprise moves have had no impact on plans at Haas.

“No, we cannot afford Daniel, so we didn’t speak with him! We weren’t speaking with Gasly because he’s a Red Bull driver, so it didn’t influence our decision.

“Other drivers, knock-on effects, there’s not a lot that has happened yet. I think we’re a little bit outside of that one anyway, so I’m not worried about that.”