After the shock announcement of Guenther Steiner being sacked by Haas, F1 experts for The Race, Scot Mitchell-Malm and Mark Hughes shared their opinion on this decision. Citing firm differences in terms of vision, they believe, incoming Team Principal Ayao Komatsu played a key role in asking Haas to let go of Steiner.
On The Race’s F1 Podcast, Mitchell-Malm stated that he believes Komatsu’s approach towards the future of the team aligned with that of Gene Haas’. As a result, Steiner was finally shown the exit door. While Steiner was hellbent on seeing the team climb up the ladder with more investment in the infrastructure, Komatsu might have swayed Gene Haas by highlighting the benefits of maintaining a midfield status-quo.
Komatsu joined Haas in 2016, just like Steiner, and was the trackside engineering director for the last 8 years. As Steiner pushed for more capital expenditure, Komatsu’s department may have pleaded for more effective utilization of the resources already at hand. This made Gene Haas elevate Komatsu to a position where he could spend less and achieve more.
Making a decent living by just existing in F1, according to Mitchell-Malm and Hughes, this difference in opinion led to Steiner getting the axe. Nonetheless, Steiner has received his fair share of sympathy following his sacking. He played an instrumental role in the very existence of the team. But still, Haas decided to terminate his services.
Formula 1 sides with Guenther Steiner in Haas sacking debacle
Diving deep into the specifics of Haas’ decision, Mitchell-Malm even slammed the American businessman and proprietor of Haas Automation, Gene, for oversimplifying the administrative realities of a Formula 1 team.
It is no doubt that the F1 paddock and fans are in support of Guenther Steiner. The Italian-American engineer is known for being the man who convinced Gene Haas to invest in an F1 team in the first place. Moreover, he was instrumental in getting the Ferrari partnership over the line. And in the subsequent years he was key in getting the team some impressive commercial deals and sponsors.
Steiner was given a lot of stick for removing Mick Schumacher in the first place. But he himself got the German his first ever F1 opportunity. Along with Schumacher, he got in German sponsors like 1&1.
His foresight as a team manager is out of scrutiny, too. In 2021, while he kept getting all the flak for virtually not developing the car at all, his strategy paid dividends when the team looked relatively stronger in 2022 as he used 2021 to focus solely on the new regulations.
Kevin Magnussen even got a delightful pole at the 2022 Brazilian GP. In 2023 however, with other teams making more monumental strides in terms of development, Haas lagged back. It showed, as they finished 10th and last in the Constructors’ standings, two places behind their 2022 finish.
