Guenther Steiner Reveals Haas F1’s Problems Amid Coronavirus Shutdown

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner revealed the effect of the Coronavirus shutdown on the team. With F1 cancelling or postponing races due to the epidemic, teams will face a financial crunch. However, the smaller midfield teams are the ones that really pay the price.

Difficult times for Haas

Haas had a miserable 2019. Myriad issues plagued the team and persisted for the entirety of the season. Unfortunately, nothing clicked for Haas last season. To make matters worse, the team endured a lengthy legal battle with its former title sponsor Rich Energy.

The team’s founder Gene Haas recently revealed that he would be pulling the team out of F1 if results don’t start showing. The American disclosed that the season’s opening races in 2020 would decide the fate of the team. However, with the season yet to get underway, Haas may remain in F1 in 2021.

With the sport delaying the 2021 regulations to 2022, this gives Haas a small lifeline to remain in F1. Then again, the finances of F1 is a funny thing.

Guenther Steiner talked about the effect of postponing races and how Haas would cope with the change financially. Speaking to Auto Moto und Sport, Steiner said:

“At the moment, daily crisis management is required. But you must never forget tomorrow. Even if nobody knows at the moment when it is,”

“I have to keep the company going, especially financially,

Steiner on the current situation

“If we don’t have a world championship at all, it will be difficult for many teams to survive.”

“If we do something that doesn’t work, at least we will know not to do that in the future. Now we have to do certain things to survive.”

The Italian revealed that the team boss was pitching in during the shutdown to prevent the team from going under.

“We need to see we get through the period where our people are at home – that all of them get paid. Gene is ensuring that. So that we don’t disappear in the short term.”

Haas needs a strong result or at least an improvement over last year to boost team morale and have hopes of progressing in Formula One.

Only the smaller teams know the financial hardships of the sport beyond the glitz and glamour of F1.