Haas example of how new teams can be successful - Steiner

Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner thinks that his team is an example of how new teams can enter F1 and be successful. Haas debuted in 2016 and took a sixth and fifth place in Australia and Bahrain respectively.

The team's approach to the sport has been criticized by some, as the American outfit teamed up with Ferrari to produce many of the technical parts on their car.

"I think we have proven that doing it a different way works, even if in the beginning we were told it would not work," Steiner told RACER. "Sometimes you need to look outside of the box – as cliche as that sounds – because two or three years ago people were looking at our model and saying, 'That will never work,' but we looked it and thought doing the same as all the other new teams did hasn't worked, so why would we do it?

"I think we proved a point, not that we get anything for proving that point but at least it is good for Formula 1 and I think it appreciates what we did for the sport in general – not for us but for the sport – to show that it can be done. We still have to do it again this year and be competitive, but I think it was a good start."

Steiner admits that Haas' successful start to the 2016 season has invited more partners in, but he says that they are always hungry for more.

"Some [new partners], but you always want more! At the moment we are pretty happy with what we've got and they will be shown at the launch. They are not huge partners, they are big companies but they are not huge on the car. When you start a relationship you need to start small normally, because if relationships start big they normally end small. It's better if they start small and end big, so that's what we're trying to do."

Fergal Walsh