Haas Owner Only Wants To ‘Participate’ In F1 – Steiner

Haas’ team owner is content merely to “participate” in Formula 1.

That’s the frank claim of the small American team’s former boss Gunther Steiner, who was sacked by owner Gene Haas over the telephone before the 2024 season.

On the face of it, Haas made significant progress under the new reign of engineer-turned-boss Ayao Komatsu, stepping forward with pace and even signing up Toyota as a new technical partner.

Steiner, though, told Ouest-France newspaper that he is not impressed.

“I don’t know how much Mr Haas wants to invest, as the team is still the smallest in the paddock, both in terms of employees and factory,” he said.

“To survive in this world that is growing every year is difficult, but my feeling is that Mr Haas is content to be in the second half of the standings and just to participate. That’s what frustrated me.

“I don’t put in that much effort just to participate. I love the Olympic spirit, but that’s not me. I want to move forward with a goal to follow. I don’t know what he wants to do.”

Steiner, who is now a television pundit for multiple F1 broadcasters, says his only regret from his time at Haas is that he didn’t quit in 2022.

“To be honest, I did my time there, I built the team, and I’m happy with it. What Mr Haas does with it is none of my business, and to be completely transparent, I don’t really care,” he insisted.

“Maybe with what I know now, I would have left the team in 2022. We were going nowhere because we were constantly trying to ‘do more with less’, when everyone else was ‘doing more with more’.”