Haas F1 team owner Gene Haas decided against renewing Guenther Steiner’s contract after his side had a disastrous 2023 campaign, in which they finished rock bottom. Ever since the Italian-American left his role as the team principal of the Haas team, he had been reflecting on his tenure. The 58-year-old has now revealed that he believes he should have left the team earlier as he began to lose enthusiasm.
In his most recent column for Formula 1’s official website, Steiner wrote, “The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long. When you step away, you get clarity – and you can see what you need to do. While you’re there, you’re in denial, you think you can do it but you cannot“.
Steiner then revealed how he was no longer content in seeing the Haas team fight for the lower points-scoring positions. He stated that he wanted to be on a side that was capable of fighting for podiums and wins. Since doing so was not possible at a team like Haas because of the lack of resources, he believes he began to lose enthusiasm as a result.
After stating the same, Steiner concluded by stating that he would not rule out a return to F1 management though, provided he received the right offer. As things stand, the Italian-American is now working with RTL as a specialist comments person.
After parting ways with Steiner, Gene Haas decided to replace the 58-year-old with Ayao Komatsu. Prior to stepping up in the role of team principal this season, Komatsu served as Haas‘ trackside engineering director.
How is Haas performing after parting ways with Guenther Steiner?
The Haas F1 team seems to have made a decent start to the 2024 season after having a terrible campaign in 2023 under the leadership of Guenther Steiner. In 2023, the American outfit managed to score just 12 points and finished last in the standings. However, come 2024, Haas have already scored their first points of the campaign and currently are in sixth place in the standings.
Nico Hulkenberg scored the point for the team last weekend in Saudi Arabia after his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, brilliantly backed the pack up behind him and allowed the German an essentially free pit stop. Considering the advantage that the top five teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, and Aston Martin) have at the moment, Haas is most likely fighting at best for sixth place this year.
Assuming that is the goal, the American outfit have begun the new season well and are the only team other than the top five sides who have scored a point so far this year. Haas will now look to carry forward this momentum into next weekend’s race in Australia.
