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Haas have certainly had their up and downs in Formula 1 over the years, but Guenther Steiner had never seen anything like one particular moment in 2018.
The 59-year-old become the American outfit’s team principal in 2014 ahead of their entry into F1 in 2016. Subsequently, Haas became the first constructor from the US in 30 years.
The team finished eighth in the constructors’ championship in their debut with 29 points – all being scored by Romain Grosjean while Esteban Gutierrez failed to register any points – but they spent the next four years with Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen as they looked to fight in the midfield.
Since 2019, Haas have struggled towards the back of the grid and have found it challenging to lift themselves from that position. The 2021 season was a particularly low point, as Nikita Mazepin and Mick Schumacher did not score any points.
As Magnussen returned to the team in 2022 and later Nico Hulkenberg joined in place of Schumacher the following year, results have been hard to come by as Haas have not reached the same heights as 2018.
That year, the American outfit enjoyed their best season in F1, finishing fifth in the standings with 93 points. But the season could not have got off to a worse start, as Steiner reflected in his new book Unfiltered: My Incredible Decade in Formula One.
Guenther Steiner reflects on ‘Agatha Christie-like’ double retirement at the 2018 Australian Grand Prix
With Magnussen and Grosjean at the team, the duo lined up for the season opener at the Australian Grand Prix in fifth and sixth; their best result up to that point. In the race, they had been running fourth and fifth in a result that would have given them almost half their points tally from the year prior.
But on lap 22, Magnussen came into the pits when his front left was not attracted properly and was forced to retire the car. Just two laps later, Grosjean encountered the same issue in the pits, this time with the front left and pulled to the side of the track.
Writing in his book, Steiner described the incident as ‘something from an Agatha Christie novel’ as he had never seen anything like this in F1 before.
“I’m not sure if that had ever happened in Formula 1 before – two cars retiring within a couple of laps of each other with wobbly wheels – but I doubt it. And so that was it. Game over,” he said.
“Despite being two and a bit years into my tenure as the team principal of an active Formula 1 team I had never had to lead an inquiry like this before during a Grand Prix weekend. If things had went wrong you always had to get to the bottom of it, but this was like something out of a f—ing Agatha Christie novel.
“The first thing I did was go and speak to the two mechanics. As you can imagine, both of them were devastated by what had happened and couldn’t stop apologising.”
Haas have made significant improvements since Guenther Steiner left the team at the start of the year
After finishing bottom of the standings in 2023, Steiner was relieved of his duties after eight years as team principal. With Ayao Komatsu at the helm, Haas have made a huge stride forward in performance.
The American outfit are sat seventh in the standings with three races to go in 2024. Haas had been sixth before Alpine propelled themselves up from ninth after the Enstone-based squad scored a double podium at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
Hulkenberg has bagged 31 of Haas’ points so far this season, and the German will be making the move to Sauber on a multi-year deal next season, while Magnussen will also depart with his current situations for next year unknown.
Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman will form the all-new driver pairing for the team next season. The latter has made two appearances with Haas this season in place of Magnussen, but Magnussen expressed his regret for letting Bearman race in Sao Paulo as he would have raced had he known about the torrential weather conditions.
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