Last October, Haas announced that international payment company MoneyGram would join the stable as a new title sponsor, giving one of the smallest teams on the F1 grid a major financial boost.
At the time of the announcement, Haas F1 Team Principal Gunther Steiner had confirmed that the cash injection would allow the team to reach its Budget Cap, putting it on a more level playing field with rival teams.
But Haas does not intend to stray from the business model it has operated under since joining the grid in 2016, enjoying close ties under the technical plan with Ferrari and maximizing the technology transfer allowed as a customer team.
Haas will showcase its new 2023 vehicle, the VF-23, in digital renderings on Tuesday. In an interview about last season’s finale, Steiner made it clear that his focus ahead of the new year should be on car development, without changing the team’s overall approach.
“We want to put the money into the car,” Steiner said in an interview with Motorsport.com.
“Right now, everything we have, we invest in the car. Right now, there’s nothing we want to do outside of it. The system that we have, we just want to stabilize it and make sure we’re using everything we need to get the car going. fast, that’s all.
Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1
Photo by: Michael Potts / Motorsport Images
“We’re not focusing on other things, (saying) ‘oh we want to do this ourselves’, no. Let’s stabilize the way we do it now, and then if we want to change something, we’ll change it later, because otherwise if you try to do too much, you end up stumbling”.
“Right now, we’re sticking to the (current) model, trying to make the best of it. If we can find some savings or better investment within budget by doing parts ourselves, then we’ll do that later. But not right away.”
The arrival of MoneyGram offers added stability to Haas after a turbulent period which has seen it embark on partnerships with two title partners over the past four years which, however, have proved short-lived.
The deal with Rich Energy didn’t last a full season in 2019, while the partnership with Uralkali was terminated after just one year following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
When asked whether the arrival of MoneyGram would put Haas in his best position to date, Steiner replied: “I’d say we’ve never been in a bad position (financially).
“2020 was not an easy position, due to the pandemic. But I think yes, we are in a very solid position”.
“The best or not? I think in the beginning (when they entered the grid in 2016) we were very solid in everything. When we arrived in 2016, there was no budget cap; so, yes (the budget) was much more low compared to the other teams, even though we were in a good financial situation.”
“But now, even compared to the others, we’re very financially competitive – uncompetitive, we’re evenly matched.”
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