It has been quite the busy off-season for Haas, with two very important departures from the senior management of the American F1 team happening during the off season: former Technical Director Simone Di Resta and, even more surprisingly, former Team Principal Guenther Steiner.
After seven seasons working closely with team owner Gene Haas in order to keep the small team afloat, the 58-year-old parted ways with Formula 1 in January very suddenly, with his expiring contract not renewed without providing an official reason at the time.
Dutch journalist Jack Plooij has reported what went down between one of the most solid and long-standing partnerships at the pinnacle of motorsport. Reporting for Ziggo Sport, he stated that behind Steiner’s resignation there had been a very interesting sponsorship proposal to the American team owner.
According to Plooij, the former team boss had found an investor ready to pour 20 million dollars into Haas, but in exchange for his continued hard work and dedication, Steiner had wished to become a shareholder at the team he had been with since 2016.
“I have a sponsor, I want some shares, and then I can stay and we all can move forward,” said Steiner, whereas Gene Haas responded with: “No, we’re not going to do that”.
That prompted Steiner’s stunning exit from the team.
It’s definitely an interesting piece of information, especially considering the ever-troubling prospect of finding founds for the team and how difficult it is for smaller teams like Haas to operate on a daily base and trying to compete with the giants of the sport.
Even more so while considering what Steiner had stated in an earlier interview to Motorsport.com on the long-term prospects of his former team, admitting that it was tough to see the other teams at the back improving and adding valuable sponsors to their roster:
“I’ve never been in a company this long as I was in Haas F1, think about that – at some stage [the long-term future gets considered]. You know, doing more of the same and seeing what other people do to move forwards.
“Like all the other teams – like AlphaTauri, you see where they are going and you cannot go with them, it’s difficult to stay motivated.
“You always try because you never give up. You try – but at some stage obviously it becomes clear that… it becomes more clear when you are gone, because you are not in the whirlwind anymore. You are outside and you look in and you say, ‘Wow, I pushed for a long time, seeing where other people are going.”
Admittedly the introduction of the budget cap had put the American team at a disadvantage compared to other competitors on the grid due to the high costs needed in order to support their stander Formula 1 operating model: buying as many components as possible in lieu of designing and producing them:
“Formula 1 has changed since the budget cap came in place. The reaction of people was like, ‘You need to think different; you need to invest in your infrastructure to get the best out of your operational budget’. “
“Formula 1 has changed since the budget cap came in place. The reaction of people was like, ‘You need to think different; you need to invest in your infrastructure to get the best out of your operational budget’. “
“You just need to be very efficient, you need to put the money in, setting everything up so that you’ve got a very lean machine. You always push to do that. Because I think our concept was very good when we started, but then when the budget cap came it just changed a little bit. And our model is maybe not the most efficient anymore. Well, not our model, their model – because I’m not there anymore,” Steiner concluded.
