“Just risk, no benefit,” Guenther Steiner lashes out at Andretti’s plan to join F1
Guenther Steiner is against Andretti joining as the 11th team, he deems it not necessary.
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Guenther Steiner
Guenther Steiner, the Haas Team Principal has an opinion about Andretti joining Formula One as the 11th team. Currently, there are 10 teams on the grid and the team principals are satisfied with this number already. It was not long ago that Toto Wolff, Mercedes boss and team principal spoke on this topic. As he was the first one to oppose the idea of another team joining, he received quite an amount of backlash on social media.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the president of the FIA took a stand and tweeted welcoming Andretti in Formula One. He also accused Wolff and the other teams for not being in favour. Soon after that Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal made a few comments on this matter. Horner praised Andretti saying they are a good brand but it would be better for them to have a partnership with an existing team rather than join as an 11th team.
Guenther Steiner has joined the party, he spoke to Sky Sports F1 about his take on this hot topic. “What upside is it bringing? There is just risk, no benefit. Now, all of a sudden, everybody wants a team. But it’s a lot of people that want to come in and the 10 teams which are here are all financially stable, all well set up. It’s a very good environment at the moment, no one is struggling.”
Related: Williams have no interest in following a ‘Haas model’ on F1 resurgence path
Guenther Steiner feels the teams may face a dip in economy if an 11th team joins
Steiner explained his concern “If you put an 11th team in and we get a little bit of a dip in the economy or something all of a sudden maybe people are maybe struggling to survive.” He questions why to take a risk if there is no upside. The Haas TP said the decision was not up to him. Andretti did admit that Alpine and McLaren did not have an issue with them entering.
In Formula One, “Cash is King” is a phrase used often. It all comes down to money, the teams feel that with an 11th team, there will be a dilution in the prize money after having seen only 10 teams compete for quite a while.
Haas is the only American team on the grid right now though their base is in the UK. Andretti wanted to bring another American team to Formula One, they partnered with General Motors and Cadillac and made an announcement in January of their plan to enter Formula One in 2026. This was not received well by the other teams on the grid. As it stands Steiner among the other has no interest in seeing another team in Formula One.
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