Guenther Steiner denies that Haas lacked the budget for development in 2023, instead identifying a bigger issue. Still, it will take a significant improvement over winter to improve the American outfit’s generally negative trajectory.
After securing points in Jeddah, Miami and then Australia, Haas started this year’s campaign reasonably. They even kept 7th place in the standings for some time, with their experienced driver pairing largely optimising the VF-23.
Unfortunately, the limitations Haas started the season with (mainly related to tyre management) did not go away. If anything, the issue worsened as the season progressed. Guenther Steiner watched rivals comprehensively outdevelop his team.
This is a rather consistent trend at Haas, whose infrastructure and overall spending are still lacking. Even with the budget cap and other equalising measures, plenty of work remains.
However, the 58-year-old team principal says finances weren’t a limiting factor for producing upgrades in 2023:
“We got hit pretty badly with not making progress in development,” he told The Race.
“We put all the effort in; there was no limitation on effort, and we had the budget to do upgrades.
“Everybody thinks we don’t do upgrades because we don’t have the money, but we didn’t find any performance – that was the biggest thing.”
As is often the case in Formula 1, several variables contribute to success or failure. Regardless of the biggest issue at Haas, there is a clear trend that must be addressed.
With AlphaTauri, Sauber and other midfield teams receiving growing investment, competition will only get steeper.
Another regulatory change in 2026 will only increase the number of big-name manufacturers on the grid.
Although Steiner’s team was successful in acquiring more sponsors in 2023, cash injections from sponsors won’t be enough to address all their deficiencies.
As a team who defied the odds to compete in F1 with limited resources, they cannot allow themselves to be consistently out-gunned.
