Haas boss Günther Steiner reveals talks with F1-bound Michael Andretti

Michael Andretti is associated with a Formula 1 company and Haas was one of the teams he was in contact with.

Recently rumors surfaced that the former F1 and IndyCar driver had had conversations with the Alfa Romeo F1 team with news that he would attempt to acquire an 80% controlling stake in the team.

There has been little movement on this front, but Haas team boss Günther Steiner has revealed that he has also had talks with Andretti, albeit not recently.

Of course, it would make sense for an American to buy an American team, but while Steiner doesn’t know what Andretti’s plans are, he said the interactions with Haas didn’t lead to anything “concrete”.

“I’ve spoken to Michael a few times, not recently, to be honest,” he was quoted as saying on Crash.net ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

“I don’t know what Michael is trying to do. Everyone knows each other in American racing and there may have been discussions, but maybe not as specific as you think. “

So if Andretti were to target Alfa Romeo, would Haas feel threatened if an American rival got on the grid?

“I don’t see anyone as a threat, as an American team we have no problem with that, no matter where the team comes from,” Steiner affirmed.

But even though Haas is an American team, it was far from easy to find American sponsors.

And Steiner admits that his team should have done more to crack the American market.

“What we didn’t do, we didn’t use the American market, the sponsorship market, as well as we should have, because otherwise we would have more Americans on the car,” he said.

“Nobody came who knocked on our door with big sponsorship and said, ‘Because we’re Americans, we’ll do that’ or ‘That’s why we’re going to support an American driver.’

“There is no magic in this game and whatever happens, not much is going to change. There’s a lot of talk at the moment, but we have to go now. “