Gene Haas has suggested that Ferrari reserve drivers Jean-Eric Vergne and Esteban Gutierrez are among the contenders to drive in the North American constructors' debut season in 2016.

Haas's Formula 1 team will run engines supplied by Ferrari next year and there has been intense speculation that one or more of the Scuderia's reserves could re-join the Grand Prix grid, while Force India's Nico Hulkenberg is also rumoured to be in contention.

However, Haas has refused to rule out anyone at this stage.

He is quoted by FOX Sports as saying: "We have a list of drivers in which we are interested in, but in the next few months there will be many moves in the (existing) teams' lineups and we will wait to see who is interested in the project we are developing."

"Two of them are reserve drivers from Ferrari [Vergne and Gutierrez], so they are certainly a possibility. As far as the other name that you mention [Hulkenberg], he is a driver from another team, so the possibility of him driving for us depends of his position with his team.

"Anybody who is driving in a Formula One team right now, certainly, is someone that we would be interested in, if he becomes available."

Vergne had raced for Toro Rosso until the end of 2014, when the team brought in Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr in a reshuffled lineup.