Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsHaas F1 Team

Steiner working to keep Haas calm

Haas team principal Günther Steiner admits tempers will begin to get frayed as the start of the first test approaches.

The new team is currently undertaking its car build at the Dallara factory in Italy, having had the added challenge of preparing for its debut F1 season across two other bases; one in Kannapolis, North Carolina and the other Banbury, UK.

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Steiner says the task of getting Haas ready for the first test is a big one but one of his main roles has been to ensure the team remains focused in the stressful final few days.

“For sure, it’s a big undertaking," Steiner said. "But you don’t realise it because you do it day by day. You never get up in the morning and think I have a big job in front of me today. It’s a state. You are in a state to put this together.

"For sure, getting close to this test and everything, temperament gets heated up because the deadline is coming. You just need to keep on going and encourage everyone.”

And Steiner says he isn't just concerned about getting the car working during testing, but wants to ensure the team members gel too.

“Because we are a new team, you want to make sure all the people work together – the mechanics work together with the race engineers – to make the car reliable, to understand the car. Everything is new for us. It’s not only a new car, but a new team.

"In the second test, hopefully we put ourselves in a position to start work on the setups of the car to where we can learn how to make it better for the race.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.