Steiner: Haas will retain “underdog” status in F1 2022

Haas decided not to develop its car at all for the 2021 season resulting in its worst campaign since joining the sport as it failed to score a single point.

With the introduction of the cost cap and the new regulations expected to close up the field, Haas is expecting a return to the midfield. 

Despite the budget restrictions, Haas is still the smallest team on the grid, according to Steiner.

“I think we will still be the underdog which is trying to punch above its weight because our structure is roughly the same as it was in ’18 and ’19,” he said.

“The quantity of people, we changed a little bit the people, instead of using Dallara people now we’ve got our own people and some of the people from Ferrari, which were moved from there because of the budget cap. 

“But we are still the smallest team, people-wise. Production-wise, obviously we are by far the smallest. I think we are still the team we were in ’16, ’17, and ’18 and we want to get back to where we were in ’18 and ’19. We still want to be known to be that.”

Haas didn’t benefit from Ferrari’s mid-season power unit upgrade as it felt it wouldn’t give them enough of an advantage to outweigh the cost of a new engine.

However, Steiner is encouraged by the Italian manufacturer’s improvement and hopes that it will benefit Haas in 2022.

“Very encouraging. I think Ferrari makes good progress also with the combustion engine, not only with the hybrid system for next year,” he added.

“But it’s the same as the car - we don’t know what the other ones are doing. I know that they said we will make a nice step this year, so I hope that works and I hope the other ones have not done a mega job. 

“But it’s very encouraging to see that they made a development and it works. The results have got a lot better towards the end of the season as well.”