Esteban Gutiérrez has admitted he was “too confident” that he would remain in Formula 1 with Haas this year, before he ultimately lost his seat to Kevin Magnussen.
Gutiérrez raced in Formula 1 with Sauber in 2013/14, and returned to a full-time seat with newcomers Haas after spending 2015 as Ferrari’s test and reserve driver.
The Mexican insisted throughout the middle part of 2016 that he had a seat in the sport for 2017, though was informed in November that Haas had decided to sign Magnussen to partner Romain Grosjean, who scored all of Haas' 29 points last year.
Gutiérrez is set to switch to Formula E for the 2017/18 campaign, with selected outings to come later this season, and he insists he has no-one to blame but himself for exiting Formula 1.
“That was originally the plan," Gutierrez told CNN, about staying with Haas in 2017.
"I was too confident of it and that was my mistake, to be too confident that things were taken care of.
“I was focusing on the results and being confident that the project was going to continue forward in the way it was initially spoken of or planned.
"In the end I realised the commitment from the other side wasn't there and by the time I realised the timing wasn't great.
"But I don't really blame them – I don't blame anybody – because I was the one to be too confident.”
Gutiérrez added that he has not completely abandoned hope of remaining involved with Formula 1.
"I never close doors," he said. "Never, never. I really love Formula 1.
"I always want to see a way that I can grow, that there is commitment both from the team and the driver and let's say, a path I can really make steps forward.
I got to the point in F1 where I didn't have that in the short-term so that's why I decided to switch
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