Haas: I no longer want to suffer the humiliation of my rivals

Just over a decade ago, Günther Steiner proposed the idea of ​​a customer team to Gene Haas, reached an agreement with Ferrari, found drivers and then money when Haas tightened its budget. And before the start of the ninth season in the team’s history, he was fired.

In an interview with the official website, Gene Haas tried to explain why he did this…

Gene Haas: “In Formula 1 everything always depends on the results. In eight years we did 160 Grand Prix and never finished on the podium. In recent years we have been 9th or 10th in the constructors’ championship.

I’m not saying it’s Gunther’s fault, but now it’s time to try something different. It doesn’t look like it will work if we keep this up.

Gunther is a pleasant person with a bright personality. But the end of the season proved difficult. It’s a good question for him to ask what went wrong. It’s always about results. And I don’t want to be tenth anymore.

We studied the situation from the inside and understood who has more experience. Ayo Komatsu has been with the team from day one and knows all the subtleties and nuances. It is crucial that we arrive in Bahrain with the car ready for the start of the season.

Gunther was good with people, Ayo was more technically oriented. This is a different approach. But we really need something different, because many things didn’t work before. We have been in last place for eight years. And I have nothing more to add.

I have been a leader at Haas Automation for more than 40 years. When you bring in external specialists, they require training time, from six months to a year. It’s better to bring people you know, and even if they aren’t a perfect match, at least you know what you’re getting in the end. It worked for Haas Automation and it will work for Formula 1. I like to promote people I know.

I didn’t come to Formula 1 to sell the team later. I did it because I wanted to race. Gunther has the same point of view. We are not here to make money, we want to race and be competitive. The loss of Guenther means the team will have to focus on other aspects. I hope she gets better eventually.

There is an opinion that we spend much less money than we need. Normally the budget does not exceed $10 million. But it seems to me that we are not spending this money very well. Many teams invest in infrastructure, buildings, equipment and personnel. Our model is to outsource these tasks. We spend a lot of money. We haven’t exceeded the limit, but we are very close. I don’t think we are spending this money effectively.

We have been in business for eight years and have no plans to stop operating. I want the team to continue working for at least another ten years.

But we have to do better. It is much easier to attract and retain sponsors when we compete in the middle group than when we are in last place. That’s how I see it. And if we achieve better results, FOM’s prize money will immediately increase, which makes our lives easier.

We have a great team, great engines, great drivers. There’s no reason why we’re in 10th place. I don’t understand how we finished last with all the equipment and people we have.

Ferrari is very good for us. They’ve been with us since day one, they build incredible engines, great suspension, we use a lot of their equipment. They really help us. I’m ashamed that we couldn’t achieve more, but in the future I want to take advantage of this collaboration that other teams don’t have.

We are very happy to stay with Ferrari. Hopefully we can help them with reliability. If Sauber leaves Ferrari in the future, we will remain their only customer. Maybe they want one or two more, or maybe they’re happy with us. But we have to do better. We can’t be that far behind Ferrari. We should be closer to them in the championship.

I think the philosophy of our team is optimal. We have Ferrari power plants that probably have more power than anyone else. We have Ferrari equipment that meets what the regulations allow, we have a good chassis. I’ve talked to a lot of engineers and I think our biggest weakness is aerodynamics. And we have to get to work on this. But I no longer want to be humiliated by my opponents every weekend.”