The Haas F1 Team committed themselves to a further five years in Formula 1 by signing the new Concorde Agreement this week, and Team Principal Guenther Steiner says it will give the team the chance to rebuild after a testing past couple of seasons.
Speculation had been rife that Team Owner Gene Haas would pull the plug on the project at the end of the current season after two uncompetitive seasons, with the team currently sitting ninth overall after the first six races of 2020 with only one point to their name.
Romain Grosjean called the uncertainty over Haas’ future ‘an elephant in the room’ earlier this year, with Steiner criticising his driver for making the comments.
However, the new Concorde Agreement has tied the team down for a further five years in the sport, with Steiner feeling the fairer distribution of prizemoney, coupled with the introduction of a budget cap, has made remaining in the sport more viable for Haas both on and off the track.
“It’s a proper commitment,” said Steiner to Racer.com. “You cannot just keep on going, thinking ‘maybe, maybe not’.
“Okay, we are struggling at the moment but we know why. We just need to build it (back) up. Next year might be difficult as well, but what FOM has done is very good. At least there is value in the team.
“The prizemoney is also more fairly distributed than before, so you have a chance – if you do a good job – to almost call it a business! The first thing in a business is you don’t lose money, then you make money. That’s how it should be for everybody. That’s what Gene sees, so I think this is a big step.
“Without all of these changes I don’t think we would have been here for the future. It’s so difficult – the playing field was so different for the big teams compared to the small ones.
“But now with these new regulations, the budget cap, the redistribution of the prizemoney…if somebody wants to enter new (paying a) fee, then you get some value out of it.”
