With budget cap looming, Haas favours slow growth

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner says the US outfit needs to grow but it will keep its expansion in check with a potential budget cap sitting on Formula 1's horizon.

Haas concluded its third season of Grand Prix racing with its best campaign to date, finishing fifth in the Constructors' standings and almost doubling its points tally from 2017.

The team's achievements surpassed its own expectations, and came as a surprise to Steiner himself.

"I think we surprised a lot of people," Steiner told Autosport. "I mean, did we surprise ourselves? A little bit I would say.

"We were aiming for sixth, we were fighting for fourth and we finished fifth. So yes, it's a bit of a surprise.

"But then again, like always, [with] everybody competitive, if you get this close to fourth you would like to have fourth. But then at least we will try again next year."

• Haas sees gap with top teams 'even bigger' at start of 2019

Haas relies on a business model - much decried by its rivals - centered around a close technical collaboration with Ferrari and Dallara, which produces the outfit's chassis.

While criticized, the partnership with the Scuderia has yielded excellent results and is set to continue in the future. Haas will be seeking to expand on its own however, but Steiner insists that the team's growth will only happen at a moderate pace.

"I believe that it's better to grow slowly," he said. "Just throwing money and people, that normally doesn't work," said the Italian.

"A lot of people tried that one and it didn't work. We [also] don't want to start with doing everything ourselves because a lot of clever people tried and it didn't work. So again it just takes time.

"The only thing you cannot buy in life is time. But everything else you can buy, So I think we need to keep on growing.

"Do we need to grow? Yes, absolutely. But I don't want to go at the speed of 200-300 people a year, because at the moment we have got 160," added Steiner.

"And we don't know what the regulation for 2021 is. What's the point of trying to do something, which then you don't do again?"

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