14/08/2023
NEWS STORY
Ahead of the FIA's decision on whether to accept up to two new teams, Haas team boss, Guenther Steiner warns that such a move would pose a risk to the long-term stability of F1.
The Italian's words are the latest as the existing outfits - and the sport's owners - appear to seek to pull up the drawbridge behind them, confident that in the wake of the success of Drive to Survive and other projects such as the Brad Pitt movie and Las Vegas, good times are here to stay and newcomers should not be allowed to rock the boat.
Be it the threat to the size of the slice of the prize money cake, the sport's DNA, sustainability, safety or logistics, the eight teams against newcomers are never short of a reason why nobody else should be invited to join the party.
"You have ten very stable teams which are all technically stable, financially stable," says Steiner. "We made big growths in the last year. It is very stable. We have ten very good teams and if you change something, you could go the other way.
"If you put another team in and maybe somebody gets in jeopardy in three or four years time, maybe only eight or nine teams will be left," he warns.
Of course, Haas has had troubles of its own, and it is only courtesy of the 'boom' that came in the wake of the pandemic that team owner, Gene Haas gave up attempting to sell the American outfit. Prior to that, as his F1 dream appeared to be in limbo, it is a fact that he was seeking a buyer, but at the right price. Indeed, we understand that were he not able to sell the team at what he considered a fair price he was willing to cut his losses and simply shut down the operation.
This was only a couple of years back... a lot can happen in a couple of years.
So now, as the sport appears to be flourishing, Haas, like his fellow team owners, appreciates that he is sitting on a potential goldmine and any newcomers could seriously threaten his team's value.
Haas, like AlphaTauri and Williams, appears to be stuck in a rut, and despite the sport's efforts to level the playing field are never likely to be a threat to the likes of Aston Martin or Alpine, far less the big guns.
However, aware of the (current) value of their 'franchise', each, despite their objections to fresh blood would no doubt capitulate for the right price.
"If you do too much and the teams aren't stable anymore, what would you achieve then?" says Steiner. "You'll be sitting here in three years saying you've lost a team because it went bankrupt.
"At the moment we are at the peak. Formula 1 is growing and there is never an end to it. We could have 56 races in a year and 22 teams in a year, and would be happy.
"F1 is a pretty old sport," he adds, "and there were never ten good teams. If you look back in history, I think we are in a very good moment. It was never as good as now, we never had ten stable teams.
"The business is run by FOM and they need to make sure that this is sustainable. There was a business plan from FOM to get us to this place.
"This didn't happen by accident. There were deeds done, agreements and a lot of work was done. Their plan, they don't want to risk it, what they are doing, by admitting more teams for no good reason."