Autosportfoto

Nasr bides time ahead of 2017 decision

Felipe Nasr says he will hold off making a decision on his F1 plans for next season until the closing rounds of the year despite being linked with a potential move to Williams.

After Felipe Massa announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the season in Monza, Nasr was one of the drivers linked to his fellow countryman's vacated 2017 race seat.

With Jenson Button ruling himself out of a move to Williams by signing a new two-year deal with McLaren which includes a 2017 sabbatical, the obvious front-runners to take up Massa's drive include Nasr as well as Williams development driver Lance Stroll.

Speaking before Massa's announcement to retire, Nasr insisted no immediate decision for next year has been taken but he is assessing the options open to him.

Previously Nasr has also voiced an interest in staying at Sauber, an opinion which was strengthened when the Swiss team was taken over by Longbow Finance S.A. in July. The move has injected fresh funding and development into the team which Nasr is keen to lead as Sauber looks to kick-start its push from the back of the F1 grid.

"Options are out there, as I said Sauber is still an attractive place, right now I see it as a lot of chances of this team coming on the way up, so for sure there'll be a lot of improvements," Nasr said. "Let's see how things go, there's other people looking after this so as I said options are out there but I can't say much more, but I can only see this going up.

"Nobody knows what will happen next year, it's a new year for everybody. So a lot of people out there are rolling the dice and seeing where I should go. Right now I am truly committed here and want to get the best out of the package, and hopefully score the points for the team, this is what we're all fighting for."

Sauber currently sits bottom of the F1 world constructors' championship without a single points finish in 2016. 

Zdroj: crash.net