SUMMARY
- Gene Haas under fire as F1 fans find him unfit to own a F1 team.
- Haas has been operating under the tightest budget on the grid.
The Haas F1 team owner, Gene Haas has been under a lot of criticism in the last few days. Earlier this week, it was announced that Guenther Steiner will no longer be a part of the team. This news shocked most of the F1 community and possibly Netflix producers.
Gene Haas has since explained his decision to change the leadership in Haas. However, this explanation does not seem to have convinced the F1 fans, especially fans of Guenther Steiner. Fans have taken to social media to vent out their frustrations on Gene Haas.
Gene Haas’ explanation for letting Guenther Steiner go
Since the news shocked the F1 community, Gene Haas has given an explanation as to why this decision was made.
“Here we are in our eighth year, over 160 races – we have never had a podium. The last couple of years, we’ve been 10th or ninth.”
Sell to Andretti then, someone who knows what they are doing!
— Rocksteddie (@William17117045) January 11, 2024
“I’m not sitting here saying it’s Guenther’s fault, or anything like that, but it just seems like this was an appropriate time to make a change and try a different direction because it doesn’t seem like continuing with what we had is really going to work.”
“We had a tough end to the year. I don’t understand that, I really don’t. Those are good questions to ask Guenther, what went wrong? At the end of the day, it’s about performance. I have no interest in being 10th anymore.”
Well Gene, you don’t even spend money on a full size pit wall or even modern pit equipment, yet you want to be competitive?! Not going to happen.
— PlatinumX (@PlatinumX7) January 12, 2024
After this statement, fans want Gene Haas out of F1 as they don’t think that the team owner understands the sport. The fans want him to sell the team to Andretti who are anyway looking for a way to get into Formula 1. This seems like a possibility if Haas is not able to find much success in the sport in the next couple of years.
Some fans are blaming Haas for not investing enough money in the team to build its infrastructure. The team also has the smallest pit wall on the grid. Some of these aspects have come to light as the Haas team is now drawn into the spotlight.
How much money did Haas spend for the 2023 season?
The Haas F1 team is quite popular for having the smallest budget on the grid. However, Gene Haas claims that this is not the case. He gave a statement addressing the common perception that claims that Haas does not spend enough money.
“There is a perception we spend a lot less money; we’re usually within $10m of the budget limit. I just think we don’t do a very good job of spending that money. A lot of teams have had previous investments in their infrastructure, buildings, equipment and personnel,”
Although the teams have a budget cap for every year, they usually spend more than this. This is because not everything comes under the budget cap. Only the operating expenses for the year will come under the budget cap. This includes salaries, operating costs for Wind Tunnels and other facilities, etc. It does not include investment in infrastructure.
Blud doesn‘t understand how the sport works😂
— Bones (@Bumpy_Bones) January 11, 2024
For an F1 team to be successful, they will not only need to utilize the budget cap but will also have to invest in infrastructure. This includes upgrading the facilities and inventory for the teams. For example, Kevin Magnussen complained about the team not being willing to spend to upgrade some of the equipment like Wheel guns, jacks, lights, etc. He claimed that the equipment they were using was being used from the 2016 season.
Upgrading this equipment will not come under the budget cap as it is not an operating expense. Haas’ problem is not utilizing the budget cap. It is not utilized outside the budget cap. They will need to spend more on infrastructure and inventory if they hope to operate efficiently in the future.