The Haas F1 team has continued to be one of the bottom teams since its inception. They made their F1 debut in 2016 and have not been able to score even 1 podium. However, they did have some positive signs, but these signs did not last long as another mistake by the team ensured their bottom position at the table.
Since entering F1 in 2016, Haas has made several bad decisions from the awkward deal with Rich Energy to the signing of 2 rookies in a single season. Let’s take a look at some of these mistakes and analyze them to understand how that decision didn’t help the team.
Everything runs on money
Back in 2014, Guenther Steiner was able to convince Gene Haas to invest in an F1 team. Haas already had a team in NASCAR. The team was very popular in the US and the NASCAR community. Haas entered F1 by buying assets from Manor Racing from an auction.
While Gene Haas was able to set up the team, he was not able to invest too much. His net worth now stands at around $250 million. In 2016, it could have been lower. To set up an F1 team with the proper infrastructure, there needs to be an investment of at least $500 million.
Even with the help of sponsors, Haas was not able to build the right infrastructure to give the team a solid base to build on. Since the base of the team was not strong from the beginning, they were not able to operate smoothly. In 2022, Kevin Magnussen complained that the team was using the same equipment from 2016 for pit stops.
🚨 | Guenther Steiner and Gene Haas disagreed on the team’s direction.
Steiner wanted more investment.
Haas, meanwhile, does not believe better infrastructure is necessary:https://t.co/gk5jTuk9UH
— formularacers (@formularacers_) January 10, 2024
When asked about this issue, Gene Haas stated that they were utilizing the budget cap as much as possible. However, infrastructure does not come under the budget cap. The cap only covers operating expenses over the season. Long-term investments like infrastructure, and inventory will not come under the budget cap. The team will have to invest money outside the yearly operating expenses.
Haas can still work on this by investing more money to set up a strong foundation. They have been operating with the smallest budget and manpower for all these years. This decision was very myopic from Gene Haas. If he starts to invest more money in the foundation of the team, we could see them start fighting for consistent points and even podiums in the coming years.
Fear of instability leads to chaos at Haas
When the team first hit the track in 2016, they had Romain Grosjean and Esteban Gutierrez in their cars. After 1 season, Kevin Magnussen took the place of Esteban. However, this lineup was not the best for the Haas F1 team. Both of these drivers were not highly accomplished drivers. They were average drivers, but cannot expect them to do something extraordinary.
Grosjean was commonly known for making silly mistakes. During the 2018 and 2019 seasons, he cost the team millions of dollars by damaging the car in almost every race. This gave him a negative light on the media. During the Netflix Drive to Survive series, the team principal, Guenther Steiner was visibly unhappy with Grosjean’s performances.
Even Kevin Magnussen was not able to put in consistent performances but was able to finish the race and finish in the points a few times. However, this was not enough for the team. In 2019, the drivers were able to score only 28 points in the entire season. After this, a lot of fans thought that the team would change the lineup for the 2020 season.
But to everyone’s surprise, Haas announced that Grosjean and Magnussen would be continuing with the team for the 2020 season. That season, the team performed even worse after finishing with just 3 points to their name.
A smarter decision for the team would have been to retain Magnussen and replace Grosjean with a younger driver with more potential. This would have given the team a young driver who could fight for them in the future and an experienced driver who could focus on developing the car. This would have given Haas the best of both worlds.
After the 2020, the team finally decided to change their driver lineup. However, in doing so, they made another silly mistake that did not help them at all.
Trading experience for potential
To replace Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, the team decided to sign 2 rookies from Formula 2. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin made their F1 debut with the same team in 2021. While this helped them get some experience, it turned out worse for the team.
Since both the drivers were rookies, the team was not able to get proper data from them to develop the car. They were also not able to identify the true potential of the 2021 Haas F1 car. Since Mick and Nikita were rookies, they would not be able to unlock the full potential of the car right away. It usually takes rookies a year or 2 to get used to the F1 car and the operations of an F1 team.
In 2021, Haas did not score a single point. In most of the races, Mick was able to finish ahead of Mazepin. The Russian driver struggled a lot more with the car than Mick. He used to regularly spin the car during the sessions. It was at this time he earned the nickname “Mazespin”. The team struggled a lot during that year.
It would have been sensible for the team to take on only 1 rookie driver. Mick Schumacher would have been the ideal option since he had won the 2020 Formula 2 Championship. Mazepin on the other hand was only able to finish 5th with over a 50-point difference to Mick.
After the 2021 season, the Haas team intended to maintain the same driver lineup for the 2022 season. However, Haas decided to let go of Mazepin just weeks before the season started. At the time, Russia had just initiated the war on Ukraine. It was reported that Mazepin’s father was one of the businessmen financing the war. Given that this would have brought a lot of controversy to the team, they decided to let go of Mazepin. It helped that Nikita was not very liked among the fans as well.
Choosing money over talent
Back in 2020, the team struggled a lot with the money. Given that they were the smallest team in F1, the COVID-19 pandemic hit them a lot. The team had to survive for months without any income since F1 was suspended due to the lockdown. At this time, they were desperate for money and willing to do anything for it.
In an attempt to gain some capital, the team decided to go for an average Formula 2 driver. Nikita Mazepin was a decent driver in F2. However, he was too aggressive and was not able to make any extraordinary accomplishments. To make it from F2 to F1 on talent, the driver will need something special in them. Only if they have something special, they will get around a 10% chance of being successful in F1.
Nikita Mazepin’s father owned a billion-dollar company in Russia called Uralchem. He used his money and influence to get Haas to sign on Mazepin for the 2021 season. Although Haas was able to get some money out of this deal, they spent millions on fixing damages on the car that was caused by Nikita.
During the first race of the season, Mazepin spun his car before the 4th corner of the first lap. He was trolled a lot on the internet for this. He was able to finish in the top 15 only once during the entire season. Mazepin even finished 21st in a CHampionship that only allows 20 drivers on the grid.
Following this embarrassing season, Haas decided to stick with him for the 2022 season. But this never happened due to his father’s involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war. He was replaced with Kevin Magnussen who came in and started scoring points from the first race. This proved that Mazepin was not up to the task in Formula 1.
The Haas-Rich Energy partnership
For the 2019 season, Rich Energy was announced as the team’s title partner. Rich Energy had a lot of money, but brand awareness was low at the time. They sell energy drinks similar to Red Bull and Monster. However, Rich Energy is not easily available in stores.
Due to high investments, the company ad a lot of money to spend. So they decided to sponsor a Formula 1 team with Haas. They spent possibly over $20 million to become the title partners of the Haas F1 team for the 2019 season. Due to this partnership, the team’s colors changed as well. Their car had a good-looking black-gold combination. It was arguably the best-looking car on the grid in 2019.
The partnership was off to a good start at the season opener as both the cars were running in promising positions. However, Grosjean had to retire the car while Magnussen went on to score 6th in the race. As they left Australia on a positive note, the car started to struggle at every other track. The team tried multiple techniques to bring back the pace they had in Australia but were unable to do so.
For those asking if Gene Haas has done the right thing in sacking Guenther Steiner, bear in mind his decision making is usually spot on. pic.twitter.com/5bXglyVskf
— Grand Prix Diary (@GrandPrixDiary) January 10, 2024
A few months after the season started, Rich Energy decided to leave the Haas F1 team. The team’s lack of performance was stated as the reason for this. However, fans and the media seem to think that the true reason for Rich Energy leaving Haas is still not known.
Since then, Rich Energy has been teasing a lot about coming back to F1. However, it does not seem likely because they did not show loyalty to Haas in 2019. Although sponsors usually have some demands from the teams, the teams require the sponsors to stay loyal. Especially title sponsors like Rich Energy were. If there is no loyalty, the team will not choose to go with the partners.
Haas waves goodbye to Guenther Steiner
Since the inception of Haas, Guenther Steiner has led the team on the front lines. He has shown nothing but loyalty to the team. He has treated the team as his own and has helped a lot in building it. Steiner even convinced Gene Haas to start the team. So in a way, Haas will not be in F1 if not for Steiner.
Despite this fact, Gene Haas decided to shock the world when he decided not to extend Steiner’s contract after the 2023 season. This awakened the F1 world from its isolation after the last F1 race of 2023. Gene Haas came under a lot of fire from the public after this. Since there were no driver changes going into the 2024 season, the F1 fans were having a pretty boring winter break. But the news of Guenther’s departure is as exciting as it gets.
We are yet to see if this decision by Gene Haas was a mistake or not. When we look at the facts, the team was not able to accomplish a lot under Steiner’s leadership. Their best season was in 2018 when they finished 5th in the Championship. However, they were not able to maintain this performance going forward.
Team Owner Gene Haas explains the appointment of Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal. #HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/rZ7gadfyj8
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) January 10, 2024
In the last few seasons, Haas has only been fighting to get out of the last position in the WCC. They have been unsuccessful in doing so in 2023 and 2021. This created doubt in the team’s owner if a leadership change is what is required for the team to be successful.
Again, we are yet to see if this decision was the right one for Haas. However, fans say that the team’s owner is not taking an active enough role in the team. They believe that Gene will have to invest a lot more and be more proactive instead of reactive. They are hoping that this helps the team prepare for the upcoming challenges. The goal for the team will now be to progress gradually from being the last on the grid to finishing on the podium.
Ayao Komatsu will take over the role of team principal from the 2024 season. He will be looking to focus more on development to build the car and increase performance. It will be interesting to see how Haas performs moving forward. They cannot afford to make any more mistakes in the future.
