The Haas F1 team finished the season in last place in the Constructors’ Championship, although it was a few places higher in 2022. As a result, she will receive much less prize money at the end of 2023 and her budget is already quite modest – by Formula 1 standards, of course.
When Günter Steiner, the team manager, was asked to comment on this situation, he replied: “So we have to compensate for this. We will find new business partners and they will help us cover financial losses. But in any case, we should try to find sources of additional funding.
Team costs should not only be expenses, but also investments; that’s the key word. But how can you invest your existing funds to make improvements? This does not mean that you will get back the money invested tomorrow – it will take time. The question is: to what extent will these investments be effective?”
Last season the Haas car was not that slow, but its speed only showed in qualifying and during the race it used tires too aggressively, which inevitably affected the pace. That is why Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen were very rarely able to earn points.
Attempts to modernize the VF-23 have come to nothing and the team only hopes that the information collected during the season will be used rationally in the development of the 2024 chassis.
“Everyone thinks we didn’t upgrade the car because we didn’t have the money, but the biggest problem is that we couldn’t improve the chassis performance at all,” Steiner explained in an interview with The Race. – And the second point is that we realized it too late. This should have been understood earlier.”
At the same time, the team still relies on the broadest possible cooperation with Ferrari and does not intend to change the usual business model. But in theory a lot can be achieved, but team owner Gene Haas must think about additional investments if he wants the team not to remain stuck in the last line of the constructors’ championship for long.
“For now, it’s best to stick with the previous business model, because if you change it, you have to do it gradually,” says Steiner. “Our difficulty is that when we try to expand our own production, nothing good comes out of it, because when you make serious reforms, you usually have to take one step back before you can take two steps forward.
In the short term, we will maintain the same business model. It has its pros and cons. For example, we don’t have a wind tunnel that would allow us to blow models to 60% of their natural size, and investing $50 million to build such a tunnel is a difficult task. Today, wind tunnels are actively used, but this will not be the case forever.
Gene Haas in America already has a wind tunnel, but it is designed for life-size models, and asking him to buy another one would be too much. But the Ferrari wind tunnel is quite good, we know its capabilities – so why change anything?
It is much more important for us to improve the quality of the aerodynamic components we produce. So the problem is not the business model. I don’t think she will let you win the championship, but is it possible to get 5th place with her? Yes, because we have occupied it before.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
