Haas Team Principal Guenther reveals he “never had any talks with anybody else” after confirming Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen will drive for the side in 2024.
It was announced on Friday morning ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix that Haas would retain its current driver line-up.
With a combined 346 Formula 1 starts and counting between them, Hulkenberg and Magnussen form one of the most experienced pairings on the entire grid.
Steiner is therefore extremely satisfied with Haas’ driver choice for next year, believing the American outfit has the ideal combination to improve the team’s fortunes.
“I think we are, with the drivers, in a good place at the moment,” he said on Friday at Zandvoort. And I always said, after our bad seasons, we need to build up again. And I think we have got two solid drivers.
“Obviously Nico, we never worked with him before, but he fitted in very well with the team. He’s an asset to the team, like Kevin, and it was a very easy decision, what we are going to be doing. They both fit in, they just like what they are doing. Nico is happy to be back in F1.
“They are helping us to develop the team again, which was always the aim: to have two experienced drivers, just to keep on building the team. Because at the moment, our weakest part is the car.
“We need to have a better car and we are working on it, and they are actively involved in that, and they enjoy it. I don’t have to ask them for their input, they really want to know what’s going on and they both are confident that we can get it sorted out, that we are getting back where we want to be.
“So, I think the relationship on a personal level is good with both of them, so on the driver-side it’s all good. A lot of other things to do.”
Haas has endured a tough 2023, with consistent tyre degradation problems stifling a plethora of promising starting positions.
While Hulkenberg has displayed strong speed over a single lap to reach Q3 on six occasions, the German has also managed to register one top-10 finish on a Sunday.
The Kannapolis-based camp has only amassed 11 points to date, leaving it eighth in the Constructors’ Championship, level on points with Williams one position above.
Having conceded that Haas’ biggest issue remains with its car rather than either driver, Steiner admits that he is not optimistic about beating Williams to seventh place.
“No, I’m not confident. They [Williams] are doing very well,” he acknowledged. At the moment we are tied on points but they’re in front of us.
“Our aim is to do the best job possible with what we have got every weekend. To get the best out of it. And I think we, most of the time, have achieved it.
“We just need to get our pace better. We are working very hard and hopefully we can get to a stage in this season that we put a big upgrade on that will give us the direction for next season. That is the aim for us, that we understand where we need to go for next season.
“It’s no point to do something, going in a direction and then waiting to find out until Bahrain – because then it’s again too late. So, I think that is one of the aims of doing it now.
“Obviously time is now an issue because there are 10 races left and only four months in the calendar year – or three months of racing, not even four months – so, we are trying to do our best, and everybody is working very hard in Italy on this.
“Everybody is on it, we need to fix this and is positive about it. Obviously now we need to get it sorted,” he continued.
“But even if we don’t achieve what we want to achieve, I think we make a step towards what we want to be in the future. “Even if the result is not immediately a positive one, at least we know what is possible and can build on that one. So, it’s a lot of things going on at the moment.
“So, as I said, having the drivers’ signing out of the way is a good thing and now we need to work on the next one, which is the car.”
Haas has encountered a challenging first weekend back from the summer break, with both drivers causing red flags in practice.
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