Steiner: Haas' success as new team 'good for F1'

Günther Steiner believes that Haas' early success as a new team in Formula 1 has been a good news story for the sport, proving that startup operations remain viable following the struggles faced by previous entrants.

Haas made its F1 debut in 2016, becoming the first new team since the arrival of Hispania, Lotus Racing and Virgin Racing - later HRT, Caterham and Manor - in 2010.

The trio of small teams were all defunct by the start of the 2017 season after failing to attain real on-track success, causing scepticism over the new Haas project, only for the American outfit to score points on debut and immediately become part of F1's midfield after striking a technical partnership with Ferrari.

An impressive pre-season showing has led to hopes of Haas fighting even further up the field in 2018, with team principal Steiner believing its success as a new team has been a good story for F1 as a whole.

"I think it’s good for F1, us coming in, being stable, doing our job, paying our bills," Steiner told Crash.net.

"I think what we have to be careful of is that in 2010, three teams came, three teams left a few years later - it was all negative. People said 'new teams don’t work, they can never make it'. Now Haas came, did it, and now everybody new coming is doing the Haas story.

"You always remember the last thing. The last teams all came and went. Now with Haas, it’s they came and it looks like they’re here to stay. The next one which will come will be the just the same. There is never anything the same in the future.

"We need to be a little bit careful, but I think we have proven that we did a good job. Gene [Haas] did what he said he was going to do. He wanted to come to F1 with a different view, with a different business model, and he achieved that."

A number of new manufacturers and teams are known to be considering an F1 entry in the future, and it would not surprise Steiner to see some follow the Haas model.

"I think for sure they will look at it. If they copy it or not, I don’t know, but for sure it’s a model worth looking at for somebody new," Steiner said.

"I would if I were new. But maybe the new guys coming in have got another idea, a better idea than we had. You never know.

"I’m not saying that this is the ultimate idea. I won’t be like before saying ‘this will not work’. I was told that many times, and it worked. And now everybody says it was the greatest idea.

"There are greater ideas than this one out there. This is just one of the ideas that there is out there to do."