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Haas has confirmed that Robert Kubica would receive time inside the 2020 car should he take on a development role with the team next year.
Kubica will leave Williams at the end of the 2019 campaign, having endured a difficult comeback as the Grove squad has been stuck at the back of the grid from the start of the season.
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Haas confirmed a number of weeks ago that it was interested in bringing Kubica on-board for 2020, and now states that it is still talking to him as it is interested in his experience.
"We are speaking, speaking about a role in our team as a test [driver]," said Haas team principal Guenther Steiner. "We need to develop the simulator still. We are at a decent point, but we need to make the next step as well.
"He's for sure one of the most qualified to do that, so that's what we are discussing."
Haas' 2019 campaign has been plagued by a lack of understanding of the Pirelli tyres, which has seen it slip away in many of the grands prix despite showing strong form in qualifying.
The team's current simulator is owned by Dallara, however Steiner affirmed that Haas is developing its own software to run in order to get collect more accurate information.
"It's a part that we really need to improve on. Once we're in a position like the tyres this year, we can [not only] work on the race track where we know what's going to happen but also getting in the simulator to see how we can avoid these things."
Should Kubica come on-board with Haas for the 2020 campaign, Steiner confirmed that the Pole would get time inside the car, similar to the role that Pietro Fittipaldi played this year at pre-season testing.
"All of our simulator drivers all had in-car time because they had to go back and correlate the simulator work that the car is doing. Otherwise there is not point in doing anything else."
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C. Sainz jr
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ajpennypacker
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but why? Is this a case of another Luca Badoer, who seemed to be a great development driver, but dreadful on track?