Haas Team Principal Steiner Only Has One Request for All the F1 Teams

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner revealed that he had only one request to the bigger teams regarding the budget cap. Steiner believes the ongoing budget cap debate is essential for the survival of the smaller teams. The Italian added that the only aim of the budget cap was to level the playing field.

Steiner’s appeal to F1 teams

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, F1 is the midst of a financial crisis due to COVID-19. The sport has canceled or postponed nearly half the calendar due to the epidemic, resulting in no races so far. As a result, teams are facing a financial crunch due to the lack of competitive running. Sponsorship agreements state that teams must compete in races to get paid.

Thus, all teams are in the middle of a financial meltdown, especially the smaller ones. To mitigate the effect of the crisis and bridge the gap to the bigger teams, the midfield is pushing for a reduction in the 2021 budget cap. From 2021, F1 will enforce a $175M car development cost cap on all the teams.

The smaller teams want a reduced cap near the $100-125M limit to level the playing field. Unfortunately, the top teams aren’t agreeing to a revised cap at a significantly lower level. Steiner recently revealed that ultimate the purpose of the cap wasn’t to put the bigger teams at a disadvantage.

Speaking to Motortsport.com, the Italian said:

“Nobody wants to be participating on a basis where you know that you just can finish

“I’m not saying that everybody needs to win races, but you need to be able to have your day and that you’re not three or four seconds off,” he said.

“It’s not for a small team’s advantage that we should do this, and this needs to be clear.

“The small team is not asking to win the races, the small team is just asking to be part of it, and to have a level playing field. Nothing else.

“And this is for the benefit of F1, not for the benefit of the small teams. We don’t want to benefit, we just want to have the same opportunity.

“F1, in general, should be the winner of this, that we have got 10 teams, which are all solid, which can all compete.”

F1 needs to resolve its finances sooner rather than later.