Guenther Steiner provides latest update on Haas 2024 line-up announcement

Henry Valantine 06 Jul 2023 9:22 PM

Haas team boss Guenther Steiner at the Monaco Grand Prix press conference. Monte Carlo, May 2023.

Guenther Steiner has said he hopes to have his decision made over a 2024 Haas line-up by the summer break, avoiding the saga that followed his team last year.

Haas were the subject of the most drawn-out ‘silly season’ story of last season with Mick Schumacher fighting to keep his seat for the 2023 season, before the team ultimately plumped for experience in putting Nico Hulkenberg alongside Kevin Magnussen for this year.

That choice appears to have paid dividends for the team, with Hulkenberg having had the upper hand over his team-mate for much of the season so far in qualifying trim and proving his value back on the Formula 1 grid.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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The seats at Haas were some of the only ones on the grid which were potentially vacant ahead of the 2024 season, with most of the drivers already contracted into 2024 before the 2023 season had even begun.

But the encouraging signs in terms of driver performance have given Steiner no reason for concern or any thoughts about changing the line-up ahead of the 2024 campaign.

With that in mind, he hopes to make a decision about his team’s drivers for next season before Formula 1 breaks off in a few weeks, and he sees it being a relatively straightforward choice.

“I hope before the summer break, I think we can make the decision,” Steiner told media including PlanetF1.com at Silverstone.

“You know, we need to obviously do it and we will get our drivers confirmed soon as possible.

“I mean, as I said before, I mean, it’s nothing new for you guys. I’m pretty happy with our driver lineup now.”

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Haas have shown strong performance all season long in qualifying trim, but that has not been the case in races, with the team often falling away as the VF-23 eats through its tyres faster than its rivals.

That remains a source of frustration for Steiner, as does two power unit failures for Hulkenberg in as many races.

“Last weekend in Austria, the Saturday was was very good for us,” Steiner said.

“As I was saying, when the conditions are in our favour, we can do actually a pretty good job, we now need to make sure that the car is always in a window that we can make it work, that the driver can make it work that the team can put the best effort in to get some points home.”