Is Steiner taking owner Haas to court? 'Who makes up stories like that?'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Haas F1's current season is also one to quickly forget. Perhaps the underperforming team with Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen can still spring some surprises at the end of the season, thanks to a B-spec update. But for the majority of the season, the focus internally has already been on 2024. Even then, Guenther Steiner will be the team boss, although it was rumoured during the Italian Grand Prix that the American was going to 'war' with the team owner.
F1 journalist Joe Saward writes on his blog that during the Italian Grand Prix, the story circulated that Steiner wanted to take over the Haas team and rename it Steiner Racing. Moreover, there was a rumour that Steiner wanted to sue team owner Gene Haas because he considers himself the one who built the team - therefore not Gene Haas - and did not receive enough credits (read: money) for it.
Saward asked Steiner at Monza about the rumour. The team principal laughed about it. "I told Gene that I was supposed to be suing him for $900 million," Steiner explained. "And he said: ‘Good luck with that!’. Where do these stories come from? Who makes them up?"
Andretti or Alfa Romeo teaming up with Haas?
There have been frequent stories about Haas' future in Formula 1. For instance, it has been suggested regularly that Michael Andretti would like to buy the team. Haas has always denied this, although Andretti has once said he has visited all the teams on the grid to sound out their interest in a sale. In any case, Gene Haas has no intention of selling his team: the billionaire has the money and sees Haas F1 as an excellent means to promote his company.
One more option would be for Haas to possibly get a new title sponsor in Alfa Romeo. It is a well-known secret that the Italian brand is considering staying in F1 with another team after its imminent departure from Sauber. Haas is the only option for Alfa Romeo, but there is no word yet of a possible deal.