Steiner: No financial downside to 22 races

Shahida Jacobs
Guenther Steiner talkative

Guenther Steiner could be in trouble with the FIA following his comments on Kevin Magnussen's five-second penalty in Russia.

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner has given the 22-race Formula 1 calendar the thumbs up, saying the key to making sure it is financially viable for all is to “keep it to three engines” per team.

Although there are still doubts over one or two races, it is generally expected that the 2020 season will expand to 22 races with the Dutch and Vietnamese Grands Prix already confirmed while the German GP is set to fall away.

Naturally the big teams like Mercedes and Ferrari will be able to handle the extra races without much fuss, but Steiner feels there is no downside for his Haas squad as long as F1 role players don’t change the three-engine rule.

“It depends also where you end up in the Championship,” he told Crash.net. “The big ones get more, so for them it’s more beneficial, but they spend also more money so in the end.

“I don’t think there’s a big upside, but at least there is no downside. So long there is no financial downside, yes we make the effort. I am okay with it.

“But we need to find out and we need to keep it to three engines. If you introduce a fourth engine, it doesn’t make sense for us financially.

“If they are confident we can do it with three engines, then I am fine with it. I don’t know the date exactly.”

F1 went into the 2019 summer break on the back of four exciting races, but it wasn’t that long ago that everyone was bemoaning the state of the sport following a “dull” French Grand Prix.

Steiner warns that any changes that are adopted should be made to ensure the majority of the races are entertaining.

“I think the bigger picture is four good ones but we want 21 or 22 good ones,” he said. “That’s what I’d be trying to focus on, to have them all good and then work towards it.

“Not because we had four good ones we calm down and say ‘it’s good now’ and then we come up and say ‘oh it’s bad, what do we do now’ and just be up and down reactive. We need to keep the big picture and for me, the big picture is the budget cap, which is coming.”

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.