The surprise sacking of Guenther Steiner took the F1 world by storm yesterday, given the Italian engineer was a part of the since its entry into the sport and oversaw nearly every operation in the team, building it from scratch. Even though the team finished last for the second time in three years in 2023, Steiner did not lose faith in them and told RACER that he believed Haas could still get better in his final interview as the team’s principal.
“I think what we need is to work hard and find the performance on the car so that we can get better… we know we can do it because we have done it before.”
Despite never finishing above P5 in the constructors’ championship, the American F1 team showed resilience with Steiner at the helm, choosing to never back down, even when they faced severe financial and logistical constraints. Steiner revealed his team analyzed their current status and understood what they needed to do to improve. Per the 58-year-old, the team was in a good position to start moving forward.
In another recent interview with SpeedCafe, Steiner once again highlighted his optimism around the Haas team, clearly setting down the team’s objective of not finishing last in 2024. Furthermore, he claimed that their goal would be to finish “anywhere between P6 and P8.” Given the same, Steiner asserted his faith in the Haas project, setting down a realistic target for them to achieve.
However, it was all for naught, eventually, with the team’s management deciding to unexpectedly part ways with the man who led their team for the last eight seasons. With Ayao Komatsu taking charge, Haas steps into lands unknown, uncertain of their future trajectory.
Guenther Steiner brought stability to a team that could never become championship worthy
Throughout his tenure at Haas, Steiner overcame incredible odds to sustain the team on the grid and continue on his quest to improve Haas. Teams were unhappy with him when he took parts from Ferrari. He had to endure a difficult phase when things went south with Rich Energy. And he had to fight tooth and nail against incredible financial constraints to ensure the team stayed operational when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
BREAKING: Guenther Steiner to leave Haas F1 Team effective immediately
Ayao Komatsu will replace Steiner as Team Principal #F1 @HaasF1Team pic.twitter.com/9kx1ho4H28
— Formula 1 (@F1) January 10, 2024
Through it all, Steiner held the team together and created an immensely popular image for himself within the paddock, with barely anyone not enjoying the Italian’s company. Steiner’s biggest achievement with Haas came in the form of developing the only new team to stabilize itself on the F1 grid in the last 20 years.
But it wasn’t enough
After eight seasons, the cons outweighed the pros for Steiner, leading to his axing from the team. Finishing with just 13 points in 2023, Haas registered their second-worst season in history. The reduced prize money (after finishing P8 in 2022) added to the team’s woes of not having enough money or investments to develop the team’s facilities or cars the way they would want to.
While the CapEx expenditure saw an increase by $20 million in 2023, Haas fell further behind in the development race, given they had the smallest budget on the entire grid. As such, the gap only increased between them and the rest of the teams.
Following all these shortcomings, Steiner and Gene Haas probably met with each other to discuss the team’s next steps. A lack of financial support would have been the driving point of discussions, and a change in management was perhaps the only answer.
