Guenther Steiner insists the Haas F1 Team has been far from a disappointment in their opening two seasons in Formula 1, and he feels the team proved doubters wrong by having a competitive second season in the sport.
The Team Principal of the youngest team on the grid saw Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen acquire forty-seven points in their second campaign, eighteen more than the former mustered in 2016 alongside the pointless Esteban Gutierrez.
And Steiner feels the success in their first two seasons proves that new teams can come in and avoid being an embarrassment, something the previous new teams – Lotus/Caterham, Virgin/Marussia/Manor and Hispania/HRT – ultimately ended up being despite their best efforts.
“Before we came into the first season they said that we would never make it and so on,” said Steiner to Autosport. “And they said the second season is more difficult.
“I’d never reply in arrogance to say ‘yes, we know that’ but I’ve done it all before in my life and in my career, so I try to prevent it [going wrong in year two].
“At the time I didn’t know if I could avoid it or not, but for sure we tried not to and we didn’t. I think we did a pretty good job. A second season plus a complete new regulation car, it isn’t bad. I wouldn’t say that we are an embarrassment, you know?”
