How Haas F1 kept its head amid the battles of 2021

In the run-up to the new technical regulations for 2022, the team of American industrialist Gene Haas decided to start this year with a clean slate. Since Haas was reluctant to pump large sums of his own money into the team, he wanted the team to raise a larger share of the budget itself.

Long-time drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen were pushed aside in favor of well-supported Russian Nikita Mazepin and 2020 FIA Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher.

With a car barely developed as of 2020, Haas 2021 results with its rookie line-up were about as bad as one might expect. The team has previously struggled to earn points while being left behind by Williams.

In an exclusive conversation with Motorsport.com, Team Principal Gunther Steiner says that he “won’t gloss over the fact that his team hurts every fruitless race weekend,” but says that the openness about what 2021 would look like has taken some of the sting out of these wounds.

“I think we’ve done our best so far,” he says. “I mean, we knew it and we’re not afraid to tell people last year that it will be a transition year.

“I wouldn’t even call it a bad year because it’s not a bad year if you know what to expect.

“Of course every weekend is tough to finish where we finish, you know, I don’t sugarcoat it.

“But knowing that it will hopefully be better next year keeps everyone in the team going.

“Yes, they are not happy on a Saturday and Sunday evening, but they know it will end and keep their heads up.

Nikita Mazepin, Haas VF-21

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“You know, the only thing I can ask of these guys is to just do the best they can every time we go out in this car because it will be very valuable for next year.

“Now if you slack off and say, ‘Ah, we’re nowhere anyway, who cares if we’re a tenth slower or not?’ But next year a tenth will make a big difference making the most of what we have, and that’s the only thing we can do right now. “

If the promise of the 2022 revision keeps the team going, they’ll have to wait until next February’s winter testing to see if it’s all worth it.

But Haas’ early postponement to 2022, the promise of a more powerful Ferrari engine and additional engineering resources – after setting up a hub in Maranello with former Ferrari employees – make Steiner “cautiously optimistic”, to be back in the narrow midfield of F1 to understand.

“I think they are making very good progress from our side,” says Steiner when asked about the preparations for the next year.

“Of course we have nothing to compare, but in the end you can only measure the profits made in the wind tunnel by the experience of the past, when a new regulation came into force.

“When the others are much better it will be difficult, but I don’t see why that should happen because we got some historical data, first when we were newly introduced and then when the regulation changed twice: once drastically and once a little less drastic.

“That makes me hopeful and I can also look back to see what the atmosphere was like in this team when we produced a good car in 2018.

“I don’t know if we can stick to it right away, but at least we can fight in midfield again. That means I’m cautiously optimistic about that.”

The close customer relationship between Haas and Maranello, which supplies the engine and transmission, is expanding, says Steiner “Ferrari has never let us down” and hopes that the Scuderia’s engine department will, with their unit, have already made a big step between 2020 , can achieve valuable growth and 2021.

“The engine hasn’t been the most powerful in the last few years, but I don’t have to tell you. You know this yourself, you know, and they are working hard to solve it.

“I think they were very helpful when the budget cap came in, they said, ‘Hey, we have these people, you want to jump on them?’ Because we obviously had some layoffs last year when everything went wrong, but then we did we went on vacation.

Günther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“That’s the only thing I can ask them to be there for us when we need help getting started, and they did. But on a day-to-day basis, I have no idea where they are and they can to not give.” us any help with the development of the car. “

Nothing calls for a “year of transition” more than employing two rookie drivers, but debuting Schumacher and Mazepin this season and giving them the time and space to update themselves fits into the long-term Haas plans.

Steiner says he didn’t realize how big the step from F2 to F1 is until this year, but he feels that both drivers are catching up faster than expected, despite not having an experienced teammate as a point of reference.

“I knew that they came out of Formula 2 well prepared, [but] I realized how big the step from Formula 2 to F1 really is, “he adds.

“I would say that for everyone. And when you look at the guys who came out of F2, they all took a bit of time to get used to it. It’s not just the driving, it’s the whole environment.

“I think on the driver’s side they are both catching up faster than I thought. But the rest of the way takes a little time to get used to the fact that so many people are looking after you and doing things for you.

“They all think, ‘Oh, I have to do it myself …’ Yeah, you did it in F2 because there weren’t 10 people around you who did every little bit. No, no, someone else is going to think about it. You just think about driving a racing car and working with your engineers to get the most out of the racing car, the rest will be taken care of.

“Understand what certain changes do to a car… these are the things you need to learn because what you change there affects your performance on the track. And that’s how they are judged.

“And maybe they came in and thought it was a little easier on this side, or ‘the engineer will fix it’. No, you need a driver too.”

Gene Haas, owner and founder, Haas F1

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

For owner Gene Haas, F1’s belated budget cap couldn’t have come soon enough, and it’s believed to be a major reason the team is still there after an already sad 2020 season.

When asked how Haas himself sees the team’s troubles in 2021, Steiner jokes that his boss “wasn’t a high-five with me on a Sunday,” but that the American was warned about what season it might be, and that he ultimately bought himself into Steiner’s plans.

“When it was decided what we were going to do, I made it clear that this was going to happen,” he said.

“And he said to me, ‘You weren’t wrong, Gunther, about what you told me last year.’ Yeah, I mean, I’ve been doing this for a while and I would say I could see this coming.

“But like I said, you will never be delighted with the results we have. The day you don’t care about the result [like this], You have to change jobs.

“Even if you know we’re not better because we didn’t develop the car, we still have to try to get more out of what is available. That’s what a racing driver does, and so does Gene.

“Sure he’s not happy right now, but it’s the same for him.

“Hopefully the season will be over soon and we will have better times again. [Then] At least you have something to fight for. “