McLaren boss Zak Brown doesn't agree with comments made by Haas' team principal Guenther Steiner, after the Austrian claimed there were no American drivers worthy of a Formula 1 seat.
"At the moment there is nobody ready for F1 in the United States in my opinion," said Steiner.
Brown disagrees and reckons at least two IndyCar drivers could make the switch to F1 successfully.
"I disagree with Guenther Steiner's comments that none of the IndyCar drivers would be capable in a Formula1 car," he said this week. "There's a few I'd put in.
"Specifically I think Josef Newgarden is an outstanding talent and I think Scott Dixon is an outstanding talent."
Newgarden failed to impress during his 2010 GP3 Series campaign, but switched to Indy Lights the following year and won the championship. The 27-year-old then made the move to IndyCar where he struggled, but with each season moved up the order before eventually claiming the title in his sixth season.
Meanwhile Dixon claimed the title in his maiden IndyCar season and added a further three titles between 2008 and 2015. However the New Zealander is now 37 which would make him the second oldest driver on the F1 grid, just a year younger than Kimi Raikkonen, but Brown doesn't believe that would be an issue.
"I don't subscribe with the view that drivers can get too old, I think what happens is that drivers ultimately lose motivation and that's what catches up with them. If you look at someone like Michael Schumacher, he was very competitive into his forties and had he not taken those few years off, those last couple of tenths he was off I don't think he would have been – and he was in his forties.
"So someone like Scott Dixon reminds me of Fernando [Alonso, aged 36], where he is extremely fit, very dedicated and as fast as ever, and I think Scott Dixon would be very competitive in a Formula 1 car today."
However Brown says the rules on testing need to change for such a switch to happen as the current limitations don't give teams an opportunity to take chances and try drivers from other categories.
"The biggest challenge you have is the lack of testing. Until that rule changes it will be difficult for a driver outside of the F1 arena or Formula 2 to break into F1 because you have such a disadvantage in the system and it doesn't really allow you to bring someone in."
Note: This story has been edited to amend the nationality of Scott Dixon, who was in fact born in New Zealand, not America as previously stated.
