Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner predicts: Not only us, but everyone else will hit the budget limit in 2023
Haas team boss Guenther Steiner believes that all 10 teams on the F1 grid will struggle to stay within the cost-cap set for the 2023 season. The American team got very close to the cost-cap set for the season this year and still only managed to finish eighth in the championship. Steiner claims that in 2023, he expects Haas to reach the budget limit and significantly improve performance levels.
As reported by Motorsport, the 57-year-old said:
“We were very close to the budget limit this year. I think we didn’t perform like other teams. It wasn’t because of the money this year, but more because of when we started. In 2020, we shut everything down. In 2021 we started to build the car for 2022. But when we started, it was January and you can’t have a team of people working perfectly and in harmony from day one.”
“So it took a bit of time, but at the beginning of the year we were still pretty strong. Then something was missing a little bit, it was up and down, but Formula 1 is just a difficult place. I think we found out why it went the way it did. Next year we will reach the budget limit and I am pretty confident that we can take the next step, technically and as a team.”
Kevin Magnussen optimistic about Haas ahead of the 2023 F1 season
Kevin Magnussen made a surprise comeback to the F1 grid earlier this year when he replaced Nikita Mazepin at Haas. The Dane then went on to make quite an impression with some phenomenal drives in the first half of the season. While over time Haas was unable to keep up with the level and rate of development that their competitors managed to maintain, the 30-year-old is optimistic that the team will catch up over the winter to come back stronger in 2023.
As reported by F1.com, Magnussen said:
“It’s been a real journey. Of course, at the beginning of the year, we were really strong. We started the season in Bahrain with P5, and that was a massive surprise, I guess, because the team had been struggling for two years. To hit the road [running] like that in the first race was pretty cool. And then, of course, we had a very strong first half of the year.”
“I think some of the other teams, like Alpine and Aston Martin, kind of developed their performance more than us. But there’s no reason that we can’t catch up [with our development] over the winter and start again like we did [in 2022] next year.”
Haas finished the 2022 F1 season eighth in the constructors' championship ahead of AlphaTauri and Williams and will be hoping for a sustained challenge next year.