Guenther Steiner sends reassuring message about Haas’ future in F1

With a new title sponsor on board, Guenther Steiner believes Haas fans do not have to worry about the future of their team in the sport.

Formula 1 is one of the most expensive sports on the planet to compete in and Haas have one of the smaller budgets on the grid in comparison to those further up the field.

While at times that has made Steiner’s life in particular more difficult (need we mention the boat?), the 57-year-old can breathe a little easier now that the team has a new title sponsor.

Haas ran without a title sponsor in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the breakdown of the relationship with Russian company Uralkali as a result. But in 2023, they have got the investment of American financial services company MoneyGram behind them.

Speaking to Speedcafe.com, Steiner said the new sponsorship plus time together as a team has put Haas on a “good foundation.”

“I think we are on an upward trend again,” Steiner said. “We built that good foundation again in ’22. We have got good sponsorship with MoneyGram. We have got the experience with the drivers.

“Our technical team, which is designing the car, started to design the ’22 car in ’21, was a team of a lot of good people. But they didn’t work as a team together before. Now they have done both cars and it wasn’t a bad car, I must say. But now they work together. They work as a team now. So I think the next car will be better.”

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The eighth place finish in 2022 came at a cost though with Haas sacrificing their 2021 campaign to focus on the upcoming regulation changes. As a result, they finished bottom of the standings becoming the only team other than Williams to do so in the last five seasons.

Steiner though said he had “no regrets” and would do the same were he to turn back time.

“Going back, [I have] no regrets. I would do the same thing again because this again gave us a good foundation for the future. Doing this was a step back to move forward.”

Haas will be entering into their eighth season of Formula 1 and Steiner insists both the team and owner Gene Haas are here to stay.

“I think Mr. Haas enjoys Formula 1 especially now with the cost cap in place, we can be competitive. We had the pole position, we finished fifth at a race so for him [it] is enjoyable.

“He just wants to be part of the 10 teams which are in Formula 1. How long you never know but for the foreseeable future.”