Ferrucci: Quickly to F1 is out of the picture

American teenager Santino Ferrucci made history this week as the first USA driver to drive for an American Formula 1 car since Danny Ongais drove a Penske at the 1977 Canadian Grand Prix, but the eighteen year old is ruling out a fast-track move to the pinnacle of the sport.

Gene Haas decided not to take on an American driver for the team's debut F1 season, nevertheless Ferrucci's nationality and impressive skills makes him an ideal candidate for a drive with the team.

Speaking to media after his final day of testing at Silverstone, Ferrucci played down speculation about his F1 future, "Quickly to F1 is out of the picture, I've got a lot of learning to do. It just depends on how our season goes from here onwards we'll make a decision sometime after Spa, Monza. Hopefully we get to step up in GP2 but if not another season in GP3 never hurts."

Max Verstappen has torn up the 'rule book' on teenagers being fast-tracked to Formula 1 by sensational performances in his season and a half at the pinnacle of the sport, winning the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this season to further emphasise the point.

Ferrucci explained, "I think everyone will agree Max is special. I got to race against him in F3 so I can say he's a really good driver, really smart and really clever. To go from karting to F3 to F1 is something you don't see every day - the only other driver that comes to mind who did that was Kimi Raikkonen."

"It's probably not something in my plans, I prefer to progress a little bit more and be a bit more mature when I get in the car. No need to rush anything."

Asked if he expected to drive for Haas again, perhaps even during FP1 in Austin, the teenager said with a grin: "You never know!"