Romain Grosjean says he is unfazed by Ferrari's decision to retain Kimi Raikkonen for another year and is instead focused on taking Haas to the podium places.
Driving at Ferrari customer Haas, Grosjean was seen as a potential replacement for Raikkonen before Ferrari extended his contract for 2017 in the days before the British Grand Prix. The French driver has made little secret of the fact a future chance at Ferrari influenced his decision to join Haas last year.
When asked if he was still in prime position for that in future drive given that he's at Haas, he replied: "I don't know. I know that I've got the Ferrari engine, I work with Ferrari engineers and they know how I work. I know I've been on the podium a few times in my career which always helps to go to a big team. After that I hope I am but I don't know.
"I'm very happy here. Yes, if there's a chance to go to Ferrari there's no way I would say no. That's a team I've loved since I was eight years old. I want to be a world champion and I think that's where you get a good shot at it, so we'll see."
Grosjean thinks there is sense in Ferrari keeping an unaltered line-up with big changes set to come in 2017.
"I'm sure there's a reason behind the decision. With the new regulations, big changes, you kind of want to keep the same driver line-up. On the other hand I am pretty happy here. We are doing a great job and I really want to put Haas on the podium at one point. So there's some work to do to achieve that but who knows? Everything is possible."
He was then asked if he felt it was just one more year he would have to wait for a Maranello move, replying: "I don't know. You never know in racing. Your day may come or it may never. I want to win races, I want to be world champion. That's why I'm racing in Formula One. To do that you need the car and there isn't many teams that can give you the car to be world champion - maybe three or four on the grid.
"You need to be in a good time in a good place, sometimes it never happens and you may never have the chance. As I said, here is a great experience, I don't regret anything from changing teams and I really feel very good here. I think I've got quite an important role in the team and for me in terms of experience and in terms of career it's a great thing."
Haas is yet to confirm whether it is keeping either Grosjean or teammate Esteban Gutierrez for 2017.