Guenther Steiner admitted the Haas F1 Team were very close to reaching the budget cap limit during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, and he expects all ten teams to be at or around that limit in 2023.
Haas enjoyed a much more fruitful 2022 season thanks to concentrating all of their resources from 2021 in developing their VF22, with the team securing eighth place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of both Scuderia AlphaTauri and Williams Racing.
They were also able to secure their first ever pole position in the sport when Kevin Magnussen took top spot in Qualifying for the São Paulo Grand Prix in November.
Steiner is confident that Haas have the potential to make another step forward in 2023, and he believes they have the resources, both financially thanks to the arrival of MoneyGram as title sponsors, and technically, to be able to do that.
“We were very close to the budget limit this year,” Steiner is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “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.”
And Steiner believes every team on the grid will hit that budget cap limit in 2023 – set at $135 millon – as everyone now has more of an understanding to what they can do with the finances available to them.
“Now we can do what other teams can do,” said Steiner. “I think not only us, but everyone else will hit the budget limit next year.
“Then it’s not about the money, it’s about the talent, and hopefully we have enough talent to move forward.”