Why Günther Steiner is still the right leader for the Haas F1 Team

Some people ask why Haas F1 team boss Günther Steiner still has a job in Formula 1.

It’s a fair question for the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Haas team finished ninth in the constructors’ championship last year and is aiming for a similar result this season. In a few professional sports, a team can do without a win for five consecutive seasons (or, as in the case of Formula 1, even forego a podium), perform worse in the fifth year than in the first year, and yet the boss of the team is – the person in charge – would still be safe in his job.

What most people forget was that 2020 was still only the team’s fifth season in the sport – and that 2018 Haas finished fifth overall, playing against teams that have been in F1 for decades.

Ir was a season of disappointment for the Haas F1 team.

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Haas is the only new Grand Prix team in business in the last 10 years. Others have changed their identities, but the only new teams – Caterham, Marussia and HRT (in their various guises) – have all failed. Haas is still walking. This is in part because of the business model Steiner developed to give American team owner Gene Haas the chance to get into F1.

Within the rules, it was possible to get into Formula 1 despite the huge budget by buying the machines from others. Haas made a deal with Ferrari. Some thought this was a bad thing as it undermined the designer status of the F1 teams. But Steiner and Haas decided after studying the other new teams that their approach wouldn’t work. Haas has pushed the envelope and bought as much as was allowed, but he is still developing his own chassis and body, in collaboration with Dallara and with the help of Ferrari at the time.

The team has always been completely open about its approach, just like Racing Point made the decision to copy the Mercedes this year. It’s within the rules.

Haas F1 owner Gene Haas.

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Last year, Steiner admitted that the team got tangled up in understanding how the Pirelli tires work – it’s not the only team that has – so the results have been poor. At the end of the year, however, thanks largely to Romain Grosjean’s return, Haas returned to its original aerodynamics and the team was competitive again.

But this year the Ferrari engines were a disaster. So the results are the same even if the reason for the error is very different.

When you ask him what the team did right this year, Steiner laughs.

“We survived,” he says. “We did that right. There was a big chance we wouldn’t be here anymore. Now we’re here to stay. It wasn’t good on the track, but it was good for the team and good for F1. F1 needs people like us. “

A few months ago, Gene Haas signed the new Concorde agreement that will keep the team involved in the sport for years to come.

Haas will survive this 2020 season and return in 2021 despite a dramatic reduction in prize money due to the global pandemic. Nobody knows for sure how much less the team will be paid in 2021, but it could be up to 50 percent less than it could have been paid for the same goal a year ago.

Steiner says he can’t speak about the 2021 driver line-up just yet, but it’s pretty clear that things have been decided. The team will be led by Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. The thing holding up an announcement is confirmation that the Russian Mazepin will have an FIA super license. He can’t be a Formula 1 driver without one. To do this, he has to be among the top seven in the Formula 2 championship this year. He is currently in sixth place and there is a big gap behind him. There are four F2 races left over the next 10 days. Once they’re done, Haas can confirm the deals.

Having two newbies on the same team isn’t great, but these are decisions based on talent and revenue versus cost and experience. It’s a necessary evil if you prefer. At the same time, there are some people in F1 who think Mazepin could be a much better driver than people think he is. This is his first season in Formula 2 and he is just a few points behind the best rookie right now – Yuki Tsunoda, who is third in the F2 championship. There were four impressive Formula 2 rookies this year: Tsunoda, Christian Lundgaard from Denmark, Robert Shwartzman from Russia and Mazepin. They are currently third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the championship.

It should be added that Mazepin is on a team (Hitech GP) that is new to Formula 2 this year and that he has beaten his seasoned teammate Luca Ghiotto. Like most young drivers, he missed some opportunities by being too fiery. We will see.

Regardless of the driver line-up for 2021, Steiner will be the only constant.

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It has always been a pleasure to work with Steiner. He may seem aggressive and abrupt, but that’s refreshing when you’re used to babbling on the board of F1 executives. There is nothing smooth or slippery about it. But few outside of the sport knew that until the Netflix show Drive to Survive cameras were sneaking into the paddock in 2018.

His colorful language and openness very quickly turned him into an F1 star. He doesn’t know the meaning of the phrase “poker-faced” and it is his emotional responses that have made him popular with fans. He wears his heart on his sleeve and tells people what he thinks.

OK, he looks a bit like a pirate and gives the impression that he’s a bit of a villain, but he’s never far from a laugh or a mischievous giggle. And the team loves him. This is a guide that will help you know where you are at. He is tough and experienced behind the image and is highly competitive. And that’s exactly what drives the teams.

They say that the measure of a good team boss in F1 is whether or not the team would follow him (or her) off a cliff. Or whether they will be polite and say, “After you.”

In Steiner’s case one has the impression that they would follow.

After the decision on the drivers ‘and constructors’ championships, do you still plan to watch the last three F1 races of 2021? Let us know what you’re looking forward to over the past three races in the comments section below.

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