“There is no midfield any more,” Guenther Steiner gives candid feedback on the F1 teams’ hierarchy
Guenther Steiner hopes to capitalize on the Technical and Financial regulations and says the gaps are closing among the teams.
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Guenther Steiner, Image via Red Bull
Guenther Steiner, the Haas team principal, is known for his unique personality. He is far from cheery when it comes to race weekends. Thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, Steiner has now become more popular than ever. The Haas team boss got candid after the pre-season testing. He believes that there are no mid-field teams anymore.
According to the 2022 constructor standings, the point difference between the teams has been reduced. Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes were in a different leagues. Alpine and Mclaren led the mid-field pack. The other four teams had a maximum of 20 points difference, Alfa Romeo finished sixth with 55 points, and AlphaTauri finished ninth with 35 points.
Guenther Steiner gave an interview with Speedcafe and others in Bahrain after the pre-season testing. “I think there is no midfield anymore. It’s the top teams and then the rest. I think that is my opinion, seeing it now.” Over the recent years, the gap between the teams has been reducing. The budget cap and other rules were implemented for this purpose.
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Guenther Steiner is very happy with the budget cap rule
Steiner stated, “When you talk about tenths of seconds close, and it’s very difficult to anticipate, I think it will keep on closing. I think Red Bull, at the moment, is a little bit ahead of everybody, it looks to me, but it’s also a feeling – I don’t know their fuel load or engine mode they’re running. But I think it is closing in total, the gap, as well. And it should. In theory, it should because there is a budget cap, so nobody can go out and spend amounts of money to get better. And then the regulations are stable.”
Technical regulations were implemented to allow all the teams to be in the fight. If the teams breach these regulations, they will serve a penalty. Red Bull already got into trouble for breaching the cost cap and was punished accordingly. Although, this is unlikely to affect them as they remain the season’s favorites. But not according to Guenther Steiner.
Guenther Steiner firmly believes the gap is closing. While his observation might not be wrong, this just applies to some of the teams. The front runners are way ahead of the others, to simplify, last season, Red Bull finished first with 759 points, and Williams finished tenth with just 8 points. Things might change this year. For the 2023 season, Haas has a new driver line-up, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, who replaced Mick Schumacher. It is a new beginning for the teams, and changes have been made to enhance their performance.
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Justin P Joy
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