Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner admitted that he would be open to coming back to Formula 1 with the right project, and he also opened up about his time with the American team.
After a few difficult seasons, team owner Gene Haas decided that a change was necessary, and thus replaced Steiner with Ayao Komatsu. After some time off, Steiner admitted that he would like to come back to F1, but he also admitted that he probably stayed at Haas for too long.
“This time has been good for me. The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long.
“When you step away, you get clarity – and you can see what you need to do. While you’re there, you’re in denial, you think you can do it, but you cannot.
“I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right.”
Steiner continued by saying that with the resources that Haas had, it was impossible to fight for wins and podiums, and that is not what the former team principal wanted to do. His objective in life is to always fight for the top spot.
“When I was there, with what we had, you could still fight for being seventh, eighth, or ninth – but you couldn’t fight for podiums without the same weapons as the other guys.
“Doing that in the long term is not what I want to do in life. I don’t want to be seventh again. I’ve done that. I want to be able to fight, to battle at the front.”
He concluded by using Mercedes and Red Bull as examples of what it takes to be successful, highlighting how patience and long-term planning are key elements.
“When Toto Wolff started with Mercedes, the team at the time was not at the top. Yes, they had the advantage of the engine at the beginning, but he set everything up right to be successful in the midterm – and they won eight constructors’ championships.
“It’s the same thing with Red Bull. How long did it take for them to get there? Every year, they kept on getting better. You need that patience and long-term planning.”