Guenther Steiner has admitted that Haas aims to achieve further independence from engine supplier Ferrari in the coming years, after seeing the COVID-19 pandemic derail previous such plans.
Ferrari has supplied the Haas team with power units since they became the latest entrant to Formula 1 in 2016. Their cooperation has since increased to the point where the American outfit operates partly out of the Italian side’s Maranello factory.
Alongside their headquarters in Italy, Haas also has bases residing in Banbury, England and Kannapolis in the United States.
Although Steiner has ruled out his side mirroring the prospective Andretti entry by relocating completely Stateside, the Haas team principal has concluded that plans to become more independent have been in the works for a long time and could be reignited in the coming years.
“We are able to independently develop transmissions, suspension and be a more independent team,” Steiner disclosed to the German magazine, Auto Motor und Sport.
“We first thought about it back in 2018 and I even prepared a plan of action. We should have reached that goal within a couple of years, but in 2020 a pandemic happened which put us back a long way.
“Now we are thinking about how to be less dependent. Let’s see what will happen in the new season and then decide.
“But I think that in two or three years it will be quite possible.”
In recent years team bosses such as Toto Wolff at Mercedes have skipped races late in the year and delegated control at the track to other senior members for those weekends – but Steiner has ruled out such a move forthcoming from him any time soon.
“The leaders of many teams are very wealthy so they can afford not to come to the races. They have a lot of people working for them,” he remarked.
“But personally, I really like to come to the races. It is my favourite job actually.”
It was previously announced at the end of 2020 that a rotation scheme would be in place for the engineers across the following seasons in an attempt to tackle the gruelling calendars in the modern era and reduce the chance of burnout.
However, even with a record-breaking 23 races scheduled in 2023, Steiner has ruled out a smaller constructor like Haas implementing such a strategic setup.
“We do not have plans for that,” he stated. “Some people will change here and there, but the core staff, the mechanics and engineers, will always be the same.”
Haas became the first team to reveal the livery it will be running for the entirety of the 2023 season at the end of January, with the brand-new VF-23 set to debut in a shakedown event at Silverstone on February 11.
Embarking upon their eighth season in the sport this year, Haas is hoping to build on an eighth-place finish in the Constructors’ standings in 2022.
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