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Gunther Steiner Puts a Big Question Mark on Haas’s Future Post the Coronavirus Break

Published 04/20/2020, 4:00 PM EDT

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The 2020 F1 season might be incidentally deferred, with a significant part of the world on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Haas F1 Team Principal despite everything has a bounty on his plate as he works from home.

Guenther Steiner discusses troublesome dynamics, the eventual fate of Haas F1 and the effect of coronavirus with Formula1.com.

The Haas F1 group runs on perhaps the smallest spending plan in Formula 1. The group purchases in the same number of segments as the guidelines permit. Steiner says that a year without racing will hit the group hard.

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“Life is a bit different,” he says. “I don’t travel anymore, no one travels anymore, for obvious reasons. But I’m busy trying to find solutions, trying to make the business survive. It’s not easy in these times because you don’t know what is coming next.”

The way things are, F1 like games far and wide is on an end. Policymakers are thinking of perfect situations, back up plans. The FIA is in the arranging stage yet is uncertain of when the season will begin, to what extent it will be and who will be in participation. It’s a precarious errand.

Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner set forward the possibility of small groups purchasing chassis’ from the greater outfit for a couple of years to expel all R&D costs.

The Briton additionally mentioned that groups like Racing Point and Haas should back the thought as their vehicle plans are as of now dependent on the Mercedes and Ferrari individually at any rate.

Gene Haas worried for the future of Haas F1

Everyone knows that Haas is one of those teams that operates and manages on a very small budget when compared to the big guns of F1. Even Guenther Steiner is quite vocal about this fact.

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“We have very limited income. FOM (Formula One Management) tries to help. But we don’t know if we go back racing. I personally think we will but you have to plan for the worst, that we have no income from FOM. And if we have no income someone needs to pay – and those funds are limited. It wouldn’t be right to pay if nothing has happened,” Guenther says.

During the launch of the Haas F1 VF-20, group founder and proprietor Gene Haas mentioned that a critical enhancement for execution was required in 2020 if he somehow happened to keep the group on the grid.

With the additional budgetary weights being set in the group by the shutdown, Steiner surrendered that he is uncertain to what extent Haas will be set up to continue taking care of everything without sponsorship or prize money.

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“For sure there is a threat out there if there is no income, if there are no races this year, if we don’t get paid for it,” says Steiner. “There’s always a threat there, if we don’t come back. Giving it a percentage, I wouldn’t know what to do. I think it’s low, but I never would say never.

“Like all of us, he doesn’t know what is coming in the near future, and whether or not we are having races [this year],” says Steiner. “He’s happy to wait longer, but like any businessman, you’re not happy to wait forever.

 

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Written by:

Abhay Aggarwal

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Abhay Aggarwal is sports analyst at EssentiallySports. Having joined ES in early 2020, he has over 300 NASCAR, Formula 1, and Tennis articles to his name. Abhay has been an avid motorsports fan for over a decade, and he even attended the inaugural Indian Grand Prix in 2011.
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