Steiner hopes spirit of teams working together continues after ‘big step forward’ on budget cap

Haas boss Guenther Steiner says the corornavirus pandemic has led to he and his fellow team principals working together like never before to get through the crisis – and insists this new sense of unity must continue.

The 10 team chiefs agreed on a new cost cap of $145m – a drop of $30m from the previously agreed figure – last month, which should ensure the long-term stability of the teams and increase competitiveness. And Steiner, in an interview on F1 Experiences' Instagram, said he hoped this period of collaboration will carry on into the future.

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“I hope that none of us will forget the difficult time that we had in the last four, five months, so we don’t forget that at any time that we can be back in the same position... I think everybody came together and agreed that we have to work together.

“I think the 10 teams that we have now are all pretty good… some are in better financial shape than others and all in a respectable financial position. But I think we got together a lot between us Team Principals and let’s hope it stays like this; we will have our fallouts again but as long as we are principled we will stay together and that will be a big step forward.”

Steiner's Haas team finished ninth in last year’s championship and he said he would have liked the cost cap to be even lower to help the smaller teams – though he acknowledged that squads such as Mercedes and Ferrari would not agree to such a drastic change.

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“For us, I would like to see it [the cost cap] a little bit lower. But I fully understand where the big teams are… this is a good compromise.

“Before our gap to the big teams – a small team to a big team – was about 100 to 150 million [dollars]. Now it’s 20 million – we’re in a much better place.

“I think it’s better for everybody involved in the sport because it should in the midterm, not in the short term, bring the teams’ competitiveness closer together. I say not in the short term because the resources the other teams can put in now are so much higher, they have so much knowledge.

“For a few years they can keep that advantage but it will close up rapidly so I hope, I’m convinced, going forward, this is a big step and I can very much live with the amount that has been given to us.”

It remains to be seen whether the North Carolina-based team can get back to their historic high of fifth in the championship after a disappointing 2019 campaign.

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