“There was never a better time than now to do this”- Haas boss feels F1 teams are heading towards an economic boom

Haas boss Guenther Steiner feels that Formula 1 teams are in a phase where they can make immense profits with new opportunities arising.

Formula 1 is a money-hungry sport. To drive a pair of cars, every team has to funnel in massive cash. This modus operandi has previously led to several teams folding their business midway.

But with the new regulations, many teams would now have a probability to sustain themselves. The budget cap set to be introduced in 2022 will limit every team’s spending and prevent the big boys from dominating the inferior teams.

Hence, this will create winning opportunities for the teams in the background and can level the field. It can allow the teams on fringes to make better profits.

Moreover, apart from the budget caps, the investment made by Liberty Media to expose F1 to social media is heavily paying off the teams. This even led Mercedes Toto Wolff to reveal that every F1 team is on the verge of profit-making, and Guenther Steiner agrees.

“I would agree with Toto that if you do a good job here, the aim of our business should be to make a profit, that is why you do business. There was never a better time than now to do this and also there is never a higher value than now for a team. I see it positively, said Steiner.”

Haas boss is glad about Liberty Media efforts

Steiner further praises Liberty Media’s efforts to be more viewer-centric. With more technology and streaming services covering and increasing entertainment. While also adapting to the needs of younger audiences, there is certainly a boom.

F1 was in trouble 5 years ago. The 3 words used to describe the sport were “expensive,” “technological” and (uh oh) “boring.” F1’s global TV audience shrunk by almost half from 2008 to ’16.

Then Liberty Media took over. Here’s what changed.

— ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) October 26, 2021

“I would say that Liberty Media since they took over, has really pushed the business aspect hard,” added Steiner. “They know a profitable business is here to stay.”

“Bbecause a business which is losing money after a while, I always say, you run out of money or you run out of passion, one of the two, so then you stop.”

“You then get into [the other] teams not being worth a lot of money but I think it’s a very good time at the moment for all the teams.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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