Haas team boss Guenther Steiner doesn’t believe he can sway the mind of team owner Gene Haas when it comes to continuing in Formula 1.
Haas entered F1 in 2016 with the goal of promoting the company’s CNC business.
The team has encountered mixed results, finishing eighth in its first two seasons before jumping up to fifth in 2018. The team struggled last year, falling to ninth.
Whilst Steiner is confident of better results, he insists Haas must convince himself of the benefits of continuing in the sport.
“I think it’s difficult to [know what to] say to convince him,” Steiner told Autosport. “He needs to convince himself. That’s how I see it.
“He understands that best. I don’t think I can do a lot to convince him, he needs to convince himself that this is what he wants to do, that this is what he wants to use his marketing money to invest in.”
With the incoming rule changes for 2021, which include a budget cap and further steps to level the playing field, Steiner called it “naive” to think that a team like Haas could suddenly start winning races and that’s something Haas himself is aware of.
“He’s got a good enough understanding that if I tell him he can win in 2021, he might say ‘he [Steiner] doesn’t know what he’s doing’. I would have to agree with him. It’s not going to happen.
“But, as I said, there is still so many open issues here that at the moment I don’t know if he should make a decision [yet].”
