Formula One team owner Gene Haas by all accounts is about to receive a legal notification from his team principal Gunther Steiner. The pair are apparently engaged in a tussle over the ownership of the Haas F1 team which entered the sport in 2016. Recent published valuations of all the Formula One teams could mean Steiner is owed around $450m by Gene Haas based on an eight year old agreement.
FormulaNerds is reporting Gene Haas is denying the agreement which will force Steiner to petition the courts to uphold his massive stake in the Haas F1 team.
Steiner claims he owns half F1 team
The Netflix star of Drive to Survive is demanding Gene Haas recognise him as part owner of their Formula One venture and BusinessF1Magazine refers to an agreement made between the two back in 2016. With new sponsor Moneygram o board Sportune valued the team last month at $900m and Steiner argues he is entitled to 50% should the team be sold.
Steiner has been on the PR offensive recently and whilst he told PlanetF1 he had a good relationship with Gene Haas he also made much of the fact that he was involved in the formation of the Haas F1 Team from the very beginning. He said:
“I think it has to be my passion project. I started this team. I went out and found an investor,” Gunther states.
Lack of written contract “staggering”
The Haas F1 team principal recently revealed he had received countless offers to acquire the F1 outfit.
“Every week, we get offers for someone to buy the team. But it’s not for £1! It’s hundreds of millions now. It’s now a good investment and a good thing to have.”
The Italian-American started life as a motorsport engineer but had previously managed the Jaguar team before the Red Bull takeover. So he should be well versed in the ways of negotiating and signing contracts.
To this end it is staggering to believe that Steiner did not have legal representation and written confirmation of the agreement he now claims to exist.
Details of F1’s next new race revealed
Bad vibes inside Haas F1
All is not well within Haas F1 despite Steiner getting his way and being allowed to recruit experienced F1 drivers rather than rookies or one who ‘pays to drive.”
Kevin Magnussen who had a successful return to the team in 2022 has admitted that frustration is slowly building within the team after several races without scoring a single point.
Haas made a good start to the season after scoring points in three of the first five races – with Magnussen finishing 10th at the Saudi Arabian and Miami Grands Prix, while team-mate Nico Hülkenberg crossed the line seventh in Australia.
Andretti F1 update and Mario responds to Marko
A positive start turns bad
However, since the Miami Grand Prix in May, the Haas drivers have failed to finish in the top ten – although Hülkenberg did finish sixth in the Sprint race in Austria. According to Magnussen, this is largely due to the fact that their rivals have made big gains, while Haas has stagnated in terms of performance.
When asked what he thought of Haas’ performances in the last few races contested, the Dane replied, “I don’t know, I think there’s frustration.”
“Of course, it’s building [frustration] when you see other teams developing and having big gains and we haven’t made that big step yet. But I still have faith in the team that we can eventually turn things around.”
“It won’t be immediate, but I think we’re doing the groundwork to be able to take that step later in the year. It’s frustrating not to get there, but we want to be up there scoring points and doing well, and at the moment it’s a bit difficult.”
It's time for a summer picnic! 🍔🍦#F1 pic.twitter.com/9sJjKav8kK
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 4, 2023
Race pace missing
A big part of the problem at Haas this season has been the team’s inability to transfer its strong qualifying pace onto race Sunday. However, Magnussen believes his team has made progress in recent races and can be optimistic about the rest of the season.
“I think we’ve made progress. It’s just that, overall, our performances have fallen behind our main rivals,” added Magnussen.
“But qualifying compared to the race, I think it has improved.”
“Unfortunately, some of the cars we used to be with at the beginning of the year have become much quicker and that’s why we don’t see any gains.”
“But yes, as I said, we are working really hard. The whole team is working really hard, and I think there are still reasons to be optimistic for the rest of the year.”
Andretti Renault engine deal. Cadillac who?
Hulkenberg says reset required
Following another difficult weekend for Haas at the Belgian Grand Prix, team mate Nico Hulkenberg said the Haas team understood the problems it is faced with but warned finding a solution would not be straightforward.
“A pretty grim weekend for us,” Hulkenberg said
“Write it off, reset and regroup and come back after the summer break hopefully a bit stronger.
“Yeah we need (the break) but what we really need is some upgrades. Some real performance to help ourselves, that’s what we need. [Spa-Francorchamps] again exposes the weaknesses of our car very much. That’s why we’ve not been competitive in any session on any lap really. A lot of work to do…” confessed the German,
FIA discover illegal Russian funding
“I think we understand the cause and what happens and why it happens but fixing it and bringing loads of performance doesn’t just lay on the street. It’s a bit more complex.”
Ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix scheduled for the last weekend of August at Zadvoort, Haas is eighth in the constructors’ championship, level on points with Williams.
READ MORE: FIA ban Aston Martin’s “flexi-wing”
