“Haas has become a Formula 1 team like any other again, affirms its director”

Since 2019, the American team has experienced catastrophic seasons, with the culmination being the 2021 season in which they scored zero points and made no progress on the car. The team has focused on developing the single-seater for 2022 and the new technically revolutionary regulations. Since last season, the American team has significantly turned things around, partly thanks to the return of Kevin Magnussen, who was called back at the last moment to replace Mazepin, a Russian national who was fired for declaring war on Ukraine.

In 2022, Haas finished in eighth place in the constructors’ championship with 37 points. After three seasons without making any changes to their car, Haas made a comeback last season. This delighted Günther Steiner: “No matter how good we are, we are just a normal team now because we are just evolving,” said the Italian to Motorsport. He justified the three seasons without improvement by focusing on the 2022 car, which was rushed to completion: “In the last three years, there has been no development. The team did a very good job in 2022 to get the car ready for 2022. But everything was done in a hurry,” he explains. Steiner is satisfied with the regained reliability and approaches this 2023 season as “a normal year, like any other team.”

A developmental delay, but nothing to panic about.

Among the latest teams in the paddock, Haas is lagging behind in terms of development compared to its direct competitors, but for now there is no need to worry thanks to the budget cap, which favors – or at least does not disadvantage – smaller teams. “We have the budget cap now and we can do it. So I won’t panic if we’re not where we want to be after a few races because we can catch up in the future,” reassures the Italian. Currently, Günther Steiner does not set a specific course and will address the issue later in the season. “I think we will define that a bit later, in the middle of the season. We will see where we want to go and where our weaknesses lie,” says Steiner.

Haas has notably attracted new sponsors in 2023, including a title sponsor MoneyGram, which allows the team to reach a budget equivalent to the FIA’s limited cap of 155 million euros in 2023.

This budget cap allows Haas to regularly offer upgrades on their single-seater and therefore not fall behind unlike in previous seasons.