Gutierrez: It's irrelevant for me to think about next year

Esteban Gutierrez began his return to the Formula 1 grid, with the all new Haas team, overshadowed by his teammate Romain Grosjean and although he has improved as the season progressed the Mexican has yet to score a championship point.

With Haas yet to finalise their driver line-up for 2017, one would expect Gutierrez to have an eye on his future, but according to him this is not the case, "It's irrelevant for me to think about next year because what I want to achieve is points and good results with what I have at the moment."

"I think a lot of things have played around in the wrong way for me so I am not frustrated or worried thinking about [2017]. I am working hard to get the points [this year] - that's my goal and the rest at the moment is irrelevant."

"We all know that the most difficult part in racing is to be quick, [but] I think that my pace as a driver has improved pretty well, probably better than expected after one year off."

"The pace of the car is there as well but what has taken away from the points, or let's say for me more than the other car, is mechanical failures, strategy failures, things that are basic.

"I'm not saying that it is only on one side because it has happened on both sides, and the other car has not scored in every race, and probably only in races where there was the chance."

"As a team we need to focus on minimising and solving those basic things and doing a normal weekend without problems, without failures."

"A normal weekend for me would be one with points. This is not going to be normal until then. Every time I don't score the points, I have to say 'okay there is something wrong, what can we do to be there in the points' but, sometimes, we are P11 and P13 doing a normal job and not trying to do something extraordinary."

"We have the pace to be there, that's the simple thing and I focus on that. I would be frustrated and worried if I knew I didn't have the pace and the capacity to do it, but fortunately I have and the pace of the car is good."

"The team has done a great job, and it has shown the points that it has scored so far," added Gutierrez who scored his first and only grand prix points in Japan in 2013, when he finished seventh driving for Sauber.