Guenther Steiner looks back: ‘The past six years have been a real roller coaster train’

Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner described the US team’s F1 history as a roller coaster ride. The stable will start the 125th race in the sport in Australia in a week.

The US team made its Australian debut in 2016 at Albert Park. In this race, Romain Grosjean took a promising sixth place. Since then, Haas has lived through the good times and the bad. However, the team faced a drop in the rankings as of 2019. A number of financial errors caused the squad to fall. For example, Rich Energy pulled the plug halfway through a Formula 1 project and Uralkali had to say goodbye at the start of the current season.

Great moments

After the drama of 2021, Haas F1 could finally be battling with other teams this year. Steiner takes a look at the team’s troubled history. “We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs in the past six years, and a real roller coaster,” says the amazing team leader. “I think more than 50 percent of the people who were there in the first race are still with us, which is a success for me,” he continues. Despite the setbacks in the past year, he knows what position he is in. “Our path is beautiful and there are really some challenges to overcome, but we had some really great moments,” Steiner explains.

The good relationship between Schumacher and Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen’s return to the team has given Mick Schumacher a benchmark to aim for this year. Last year, the German pretty much dominated his fellow Russian, Nikita Mazepin. Steiner on the subject: “It’s good for Mick that he now has a real reference with Kevin. Kevin is also trying to help Mick more with his experience.” So the forced farewell to the Russians had an inadvertently positive effect. “Internally, the team on both sides of the garage works very well together and we are currently working in good spirits,” concludes Steiner.