Guenther Steiner jokes about how Haas once missed out on signing £25.5m-a-year ‘big talent’

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Guenther Steiner has more than his fair share of stories from his time in Formula 1 as the team principal of Haas.

Before helping set up the latest team to join the Formula 1 grid, Guenther Steiner worked for Jaguar and Red Bull.

However, alongside Gene Haas, Steiner brought the Haas F1 team to life and in 2016 they made their debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

Romain Grosjean scored the team’s first points that day as well, with Esteban Gutierrez in the second car.

Gutierrez didn’t see eye to eye with Steiner and the Mexican moved on at the end of Haas’s first campaign.

He was replaced by Kevin Magnussen, who is coming to the end of his second stint with the team this year.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Haas F1 Team from team principal to Ferrari and Toyota partnerships

However, writing in his new book Unfiltered: My Incredible Decade in Formula 1, Steiner admits he may have missed an opportunity to hire a much quicker driver.

Haas are only now investing in a testing program with the help of Toyota and have relied heavily on support from Ferrari.

This has meant running their junior drivers in practice sessions to help them gain experience, with Oliver Bearman the most recent example of this.

However, Steiner has recalled a story about in Haas’s debut season, Charles Leclerc was the team’s back-up driver.

The £25.5m-a-year Monegasque star won the GP3 title that year, but instead of taking a punt on him for the following season, he was allowed to compete in F2 – which he subsequently won as well.

Guenther Steiner jokes about missing out on signing Charles Leclerc for Haas

Talking about the teenage star during his first public outing in an F1 car with Haas, Steiner said: “Before you ask, yes, Charles did drive for Haas. If memory serves, it was session one of free practice at both the British and German Grands Prix.

“In fact, I’m pretty sure Charles drove a Haas during a race weekend before he drove a Ferrari. I like Charles. He’s a really nice guy and a big talent.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

“I’m moving forward a bit here, but a rumour started circulating during the 2016 season that if Charles won the GP3 series that year, he would dramatically drive for Haas in 2017.

“Regretfully, that was just b——-, and although Charles did go on to win the GP3 series, in 2017 he entered the Formula 2 Championship and won that too.

“Imagine what might have been had he driven for us. His loss, obviously. What an idiot.”

How Charles Leclerc fared during his Haas FP1 practice sessions

Leclerc would eventually make his F1 debut on loan from Ferrari, but with Sauber instead of Haas.

He was only with the Swiss team for a year before earning the promotion to the senior team that had been earmarked for him for some time.

Leclerc took part in three consecutive practice sessions at Silverstone, the Hungaroring and Hockenheim, before a final outing in Brazil.

The Monegasque was faster than Esteban Ocon’s MRT on his maiden outing at the British Grand Prix and within a second of Grosjean by the time he reached Germany.

There were signs that Leclerc was going to be a star given he was still an F3 driver at the time, but the pictures of the seven-time race winner wearing Haas overalls will always be an anomaly rather than a reflection of a first competitive step into F1.