"Marketing-wise, it would be magic" - Guenther Steiner will welcome a capable female F1 driver at Haas
Haas boss Guenther Steiner is quite open to the idea of hiring a female driver but feels that a lack of capable options is what the issue is. It's been a long time since F1 had a female driver.
A few names have been thrown around in the recent past like Danica Patrick, Susie Wolff, and Carmen Jorda, but none of them have materialized and progressed into a full-time race seat.
Not only that, there hasn't been a prominent female driver in F1 for a long time now, and even in the junior categories, not many are making their way through the ranks.
Talking about the possibility of a female Haas driver in the team, Guenther Steiner agreed that it would be a major marketing benefit for any team that does it. However, he also revealed that there doesn't seem to be any viable talent making their way through the junior categories at the moment.
In an excerpt from Steiner's book released by The Times, the Haas team principal said:
“Marketing-wise, it would be magic. But at the moment they are simply not out there. You’ve got thousands of male children who go go-karting and only 20 make it to the top. We need to create a big field of grassroots for females. We cannot have delusions that it will happen in two to three years. We are five or six generations behind now.”
Haas is not in favor of slowing down Red Bull to help the show
Guenther Steiner feels that artificially slowing down Red Bull to help the 'show' is not the right approach as the sport should be kept away from entertainment.
Speaking about Red Bull's dominance this season and whether steps could be taken to rein them in, Steiner said:
"The sport is the main thing we have to have. The show is secondary, but I think it will sort itself out and then still we have got a good race going on in the front now with Checo and Max, that doesn't seem to be without sparks, without show. There is some show element in that one now. But I'm not worried that other people will catch up."
Haas scored a decent haul of points in Australia, where Nico Hulkenberg secured a P7 result. The team has started the season decently. While it's not as impressive as things were in 2022, steady progress has been a step up from where the team was last season.