Haas will reassess F1 plans ahead of 2021

Haas F1 team owner Gene Haas is not negative about the 2021 regulations and future direction of Formula 1 but will now consider his plans in light of the sport's pending significant changes, according to team principal Guenther Steiner.

The newest team in F1 joined ahead of the 2016 season and impressed during its first three years, making steady progress and finishing fifth in the constructors’ championship last season. While Steiner runs the operation day-to-day, he outlined the new regulations to Haas (pictured at left, above, with Steiner) during the United States Grand Prix weekend and says they had hours of discussions at Circuit of The Americas.

“I talked him through everything because he’s in California and I’m in North Carolina so we’d rather speak face-to-face rather than over the phone,” Steiner said. “I gave him all the information and talked him through everything so now he needs to digest everything. Because when I speak for a long time, we get confused.

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“It was all positive. It was just bringing him up to speed and it was much easier to do that (in Austin). We came in on Saturday and I spent more than two hours with him and (Sunday morning) it wasn’t too long. But on Saturday it was a long time because I had to talk him through everything, explaining the new commercial agreement and all that stuff. It’s normal.”

Haas has previously voiced his discontent at the revenue distribution in F1 and the inability for midfield teams to challenge for podiums and victories, so Steiner admits the team owner will now analyze whether he believes he’ll get a better return from the sport in the future.

“I mean, the biggest problem he has is with our performance. Who is impressed with the state of F1 if you don’t make money out of it? It’s a big investment.

“I think he has to digest everything and then see what he wants to do. But he’s not negative about it. He’s just like every good businessman, he has to rethink what to do but he is not negative about it. For sure he has doubts like everybody else and it’s something new, but it’s normal business.”

Haas currently sits ninth in the constructors’ championship on 28 points, one shy of its previous lowest total of 29 from its first season in F1, when it finished eighth overall.