We meet Haas team boss Guenther Steiner. In the video interview with auto motor und sport, the South Tyrolean speaks about the Haas model, the change from Mick Schumacher to Nico Hülkenberg and the goals for the coming Formula 1 season.
Guenther Steiner is a man who doesn't hide his opinion. He is authentic. He offends. Meanwhile, the Haas team boss is even a little star. Steiner also became known to a wider audience through the Netflix series "Drive to survive". Before we start the 2023 season, we visited him in his home town of Meran and talked about the past, present and future of the US team.
In 2016, Haas entered Formula 1. And established himself directly with an eighth World Cup place. The US racing team also ended up there last year after the Corona outbreak initially looked pitch black for the team and 2021 was sacrificed for better times. The strategy paid off. It could have jumped out even more in 2022. Steiner admits that Haas didn't have the golden touch in development throughout the year. "We should have slimmed down the car more," says the South Tyrolean. Every kilogram less means a guaranteed lap time.
Steiner about Schumacher & Hülk
Haas should have brought more small upgrades instead of one big one. In an interview, Steiner reveals why that would also have been helpful in motivating the drivers. Ferrari's engine problems did the rest. Throttled performance cost lap time. Nevertheless, Haas managed to achieve a major highlight: pole position in Brazil. "You can see that if we are given the opportunity, we are there as a racing team."
Last year, Haas did not exhaust the budget cap. With sponsor MoneyGram you will reach the limit in 2023. This creates new opportunities. For the coming season, Steiner has declared sixth place in the team world championship as his goal. And at some point, according to the big dream of the US racing team, Haas also wants to get on the podium.
To give the team a boost, Mick Schumacher's contract was not renewed and Nico Hulkenberg was signed. Steiner explains how the decision came about and why he chose the experience factor. In any case, the Haas team boss did not make it easy for himself. The background noise around Schumacher played no role in the choice of the second driver alongside Kevin Magnussen, as Steiner assures.
