Steiner: Gene Haas needs to convince himself that F1 is a good investment

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes that there is nothing he can say to convince team owner Gene Haas whether or not to stay in Formula 1 for 2021 and beyond. 

When Haas entered the sport in 2016, it was with the ambition to promote their CNC machining business and to eventually challenge the front-runners. 

However, after an encouraging first season the team has suffered from some not so good results, with the 2019 season being a low point in their short history. 

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Steiner is confident that the better results will come, but he has insisted that Haas will have to convince himself that it is worth continuing in the sport. 

Steiner told Autosport: "I think it’s difficult to [know what to] say to convince him. He needs to convince himself. That’s how I see it.

"He understands that best. I don’t think I can do a lot to convince him, he needs to convince himself that this is what he wants to do, that this is what he wants to use his marketing money to invest in."

However, even with the regulation changes that are coming into force in 2021, it would be foolish to suggest that the team are going to able to win races. However, as always with rule changes, it is a good opportunity to shake up the field. 

"He’s got a good enough understanding that if I tell him he can win in 2021, he might say ‘he [Steiner] doesn’t know what he’s doing’. I would have to agree with him. It’s not going to happen.

"But, as I said, there is still so many open issues here that at the moment I don’t know if he should make a decision [yet]."