Haas’ Guenther Steiner: “We just have to keep on working hard and getting more points”

Guenther Steiner feels the VF-22 does not possess any particular strengths or weaknesses, but the 2022 car from the Haas F1 Team appears to be good for all kinds of circuits.

Haas returned to the points this year after a pointless 2021, with Kevin Magnussen claiming an excellent, if not a surprise, fifth place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.  He has subsequently scored points again in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and in both the Sprint and Feature race of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Despite scoring points at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari last time out, Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, says the team were hoping for more from the weekend, and they have done a lot of data analysis since to understand why the pace was not as a strong for either Magnussen nor Mick Schumacher as they were looking for.

“I don’t think there any particular strengths or weaknesses, I think the car is pretty good all round,” said Steiner. “Obviously, in the main race in Imola, we were not performing as we would’ve wished so we need to look into the data and see how maybe we can get the tyres to work better and go again.

“I think the car in general is pretty good, we just have to keep on working hard and getting more points.”

Haas is the only American team on the Formula 1 grid, and being based in North Carolina, this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix represents more of a home race than the other race in the country, the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

And Steiner says there is excitement of having a second race in the United States, although he admits he has never previously visited Miami before aside from a trip to the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

“It’s always exciting to race at home and now having a second race in Miami, it’s even more exciting and it’s closer to our base in North Carolina,” he said.  “Having a show around the racing is a great addition and the combination of both makes it more valuable to the sport, but the main event is always the racing.

“Unfortunately, I’ve never visited Miami itself, but I’ve been to Homestead-Miami Speedway before. I know it’s a pretty cool city, and I would like to have time to visit but I think we will be very busy over the whole weekend with a lot of things going on – having an exciting race and an exciting show.”

Steiner says the interest from American companies in Formula 1 has grown since the announcement of the Miami Grand Prix, and he says the addition next year of the Las Vegas Grand Prix can only be a positive for the sport.

“We’ve got a lot more interest for partnerships, for sponsorship and it has risen quite a lot,” Steiner revealed.  

“Now, we can take a little bit of time to go through and see how it develops but for sure, having the race in Miami and adding a race in Las Vegas next year, a third race in the States, will help all of this. We’re in no hurry but the sport is in a good place at the moment.”