Guenther Steiner does not understand why his former Haas team has downplayed expectations so much. The former team boss already saw at the end of last season that Haas was going in the right direction and therefore does not think it is fair that the American racing team toned down the prospects. Yet Steiner is also happy for his former employer that it managed to perform well during the start of the season.
The Haas team had a good weekend in Australia and managed to finish in the points with both drivers. The team tried not to set too high expectations at the start of the season, but former team boss Steiner says that was completely unjustified. “They did a good job and I always told Gene Haas (team owner, ed.) that I was actually right, because I knew the figures from the wind tunnel,” Steiner told PlanetF1.
However, the South Tyrolean thinks he knows why his former racing team did not want to get ahead of themselves. “I think they played it down in the beginning just to have an excuse to start with and then it went better than they expected,” said Steiner, who, however, does not agree with his former team’s approach. ‘That, to me, is the wrong thing to do. And I think everyone was already convinced that this path was the right one, I was convinced that it was. In my opinion, it is not about this year, but about the medium term. You can go from year to year and every year say, Oh, we’re bad, and then you do better than you expect.’
Steiner is happy for his former team
Steiner was still part of the Haas team when the 2024 Haas car was almost finished, but especially praises the rest of the team for the work they have done. “The team and Simone Resta (former technical director of Haas, ed.) did a good job, because the car was already ready last year, it was ready before I left,” said Steiner. “The car was finished, it was already being assembled.”
Yet Steiner is not grudgeful towards his team, and says he is happy for them that the VF-24 seems to be working so well. “I’m really happy for the team that they’re scoring points because I like these guys,” he said. ‘A lot of people have been there from the beginning, so I have no bad feelings about that. I’m actually quite happy if they score points because I know the technical team in Italy did a good job last year. They worked very hard on the car that is there now. Only time will tell what will happen in the future.’
Haas releases updates faster
However, current Haas team boss Komatsu has already lifted the veil on the future of the team, writing in an email to Haas fans that the aerodynamic updates can be installed on the VF-24 earlier than expected. “Originally we were going to release our first upgrade a little later in the season, but our aerodynamics team has done a good job,” the Japanese revealed. “That’s why we are now providing updates earlier, which is a change for the team. We have seen encouraging signs, so now we have to prove it on track.”
