For the first time this season, Günther Steiner stood on the grid as an analyst; earlier this year, he had to step down from his role as team principal of Haas in favor of engineer Ayao Komatsu. Steiner reflects on some difficult final years at the American racing team, where his cars often ranked as the worst. In retrospect, he believes he should have quit much earlier.
“I don’t blame Haas,” Steiner revealed in a Sky Sports podcast. “In hindsight, I understand the situation better. When you’re a team principal, you’re naturally in a kind of tunnel vision. I just thought: ‘I have to do this.’ You no longer stop to think about what on earth you’re doing. It actually makes no sense. Looking back, I realize I should have quit somewhere in 2022. That’s when it really got tough.”
‘I Saw No Progress’
In 2022, drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were set to return to the grid. The duo had scored zero points in the previous season, a new low for Haas. Mazepin was replaced at the last minute by old acquaintance Kevin Magnussen following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Although the team performed slightly better in 2022, real successes were lacking. “I didn’t see how we could make progress,” Steiner sighed. “We were already happy if we scored one point. But how long can you keep that up?
‘I needed bigger challenges,’ Steiner explained. ‘When you’re running a Formula 1 team, at some point you just want to score points and reach the podium. But after the coronavirus crisis, everything came to a standstill. Every day was the same: we were just doing our job.’
Steiner’s Final Season and the Future of Haas
In 2023, the last season in which Steiner was at the helm of Haas, the team once again went downhill. Despite choosing experienced drivers like Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hülkenberg, the team finished at the bottom again. Under the leadership of Ayao Komatsu, however, the team seems to be reviving. In the run-up to the last three races of the season, the team is now fighting for sixth place in the constructors’ championship.
