Guenther Steiner offers an alternate explanation to Haas’s mid-season regression, dismissing the importance of financial limitations.
Across the F1 field, teams are investing in the latest technologies and facilities. Over the last decade, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari have dominated the podium places. The arrival of McLaren and Aston Martin, however, threatens the established order.
Even teams in the lower midfield, including AlphaTauri and Sauber, are receiving financial and technological improvements. Ideally, they will also become increasingly competitive.
However, one team that isn’t in this category is Haas. Traditionally, Guenther Steiner’s outfit was admired for remaining competitive in F1 despite very limited resources. Their first seasons in 2016, 2017 and 2018 – ironically – were their best.
Given the budget cap hadn’t been implemented, this was all the more impressive.
Unfortunately for Haas, they couldn’t sustain this early success. With the likes of McLaren rebuilding and addressing their weaknesses, they closed the gap to the front.
In this process, the US team was left behind. Generally speaking, a lack of financial injection is the issue most associated with Haas F1.
According to team principal Guenther Steiner, expenditure actually played a minimal role in their 2023 regression:
“Everybody thinks we didn’t do the upgrades because we don’t have the money,” he told The Race.
“But we didn’t find any performance. That was the biggest thing…
“We just need to get better in the wind tunnel. Otherwise, the team is not too bad.
“It could always be better, but it’s just that we didn’t find anything.”
This admission is arguably refreshing, with the 58-year-old not shying away from a glaring weakness at Haas. Unfortunately, simply identifying a problem doesn’t guarantee its solution.
As demonstrated in previous seasons (regardless of Steiner’s perspective), finances are the root of many issues for the team. Whilst the budget cap is very helpful, it cannot fully compensate.
Moreover, the infrastructural issues at Haas -which are linked to their wind tunnel – aren’t an overnight fix. Even if investment were to arrive immediately, it would take several years to have any on-track impact.
A big cash injection doesn’t seem realistic in the foreseeable future. With all this in mind, Guenther Steiner’s personnel must dig deep to keep up in an increasingly competitive F1.
