"Can you win a world championship with our business model? I don’t think so": Haas team principal's sobering acceptance of the team's prospects in F1
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner gave his views on what the future of Gene Haas' F1 team looks like. The American outfit finished dead last in the 2023 F1 season and could accumulate only 12 points in 22 races. Though Steiner feels that his team's business model is not an issue, he admits that it won't be able to push them to win world championships.
Speaking to The Race, the Italian stated how it was important for them to supervise the aerodynamic parts they make at Haas. About the business model, he claimed that it was great and the team needed to extract the most out of it.
However, when it comes to winning championships, Steiner admits that it is not enough. According to him, the structure is only good enough for them to end up in fifth place in the constructors' championship.
"It’s more important for us to look over the parts we make, the aero. The problem is not the business model. We need to exploit the potential of the business model we have at the moment, which we are not because we are last in the championship. There is more in it than that. Can you win a world championship with our business model? I don’t think so, but can you be fifth? Yes, because we did it before."
Haas will naturally try their best to get out of the bottom of the table and enter the midfield fight, much like other teams like AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo, and Williams.
Nico Hulkenberg's damning verdict on Haas' B-spec 2023 F1 car
In the latter stages of the 2023 F1 season, Haas brought a massive upgrade to their car in the US GP. Unfortunately, the new parts did not work as intended and were criticized by the team's driver, Nico Hulkenberg. In an exclusive interview with Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, he claimed that the new car did not achieve anything.
“Nothing. [It’s] sobering and alarming. You can’t hide that. We have to be honest with ourselves and admit that it doesn’t meet our standards when we do so much work to rebuild the car and then the end result is almost the same. It’s our job to do better next year.”
After driving the updated car, Nico Hulkenberg decided to return to the old-spec car for the last two races of the season since he preferred it over the new one. His teammate, Kevin Magnussen, on the other hand, continued to drive the new car.