Sky F1 pitlane reporter, Ted Kravitz, has amusingly noted on a couple of occasions that Haas team principal, Guenther Steiner, has the look of a '60s stage magician' about him.

Sure enough, one can almost imagine the Italian swapping his Haas team gear for a cape and performing card tricks or extracting a long stream of silk scarves from a top hat. Indeed, he has the look of stage hypnotist about him... and a hint of Dick Dastardly.

However, following his latest comments to the official F1 website, fans can only hope that he possesses neither the power of magic or hypnotism, for his vision for the sport's future is truly bleak.

Asked for his "ideal scenario" for the sport, from the point of view of a private team, post 2020, he tells the official F1 site.

"Formula 1 has to keep its high-tech momentum. We cannot go back to something like a V8. Those times are gone. We can look back, but should not go back.

"We need to work with some kind of hybrid," he continues. "How to make that hybrid work best for F1's needs? The engine manufacturers are challenged with coming up with the best ideas, having a firm eye on where the road car market is going. From the side of a private team, it would be great if the costs were under control."

Asked about equality, he replies: "Well, of course this has to do with the engines, but I would say it mostly has to do with the aero side, the size of the team and the budget involved.

"Liberty Media is working on it, to make it a more even playing field, I was told.

"Can you imagine if we were to have five or six teams that were able to win races? Wouldn't that be awesome?

"Right now the battle is in the midfield - and we are very honoured to play that crucial part right now - but can you imagine a whole championship with fights that you right now basically see only in the midfield? The fans would love it."

Finally, asked how much of his team's budget goes on engines - which as we all know are making the big difference in the standings at present - he replies: "Probably something like 20 percent of our budget. If we could bring that down to 10 percent, that would be fantastic."

Such a vision for the sport's future is barely worthy of analysis, but the fact is that Liberty Media is working and spending hard to bring about its vision for Formula One, and that is not a vision shared by the majority of fans who want their racing genuine not manufactured.

Sadly, with the teams wrapped up in their own self-interest bubbles and the president of the FIA seemingly involved in everything other than F1, it is Liberty Media’s sleight of hand that is likely to win the day… and the sport, and its fans, will be the poorer for it.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by NS Biker, 09/09/2017 3:28

"F1 can't even claim to have pioneered things like hydraulic suspensions with ride height control (Citroen, Mercedes and others), how bout ABS, back to Citroen again. F1 may have perfected the ABS, ESP, active suspensions and TC systems, but all outlawed now. On the engine side, the basic geometry, bore, stroke, spacing, Vee angle are all dictated. Even materials are limited, where are the ceramics and unobtainium.? What about high pressure direct injection, multiple spark plugs and even individual coil assemblies .... all of this is road specific and NOT allowed in F1.
Not too sure I want carbon fiber suspension or chassis components on my daily driver. Save that for the Mountain Bike.
The Road Relevance card has been played and it is a bluff. Worth no more than a pair of deuces.
To think we were glad to embrace the current FIA team after Mad Max. Anyone see a light at the end of the tunnel.??"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Uffen, 08/09/2017 15:22

"MossMan, to me F1 cars have long been low-tech compared to road cars. That was a large part of their appeal - stripped down and raw. I don't want F1 carts with (fully) automatic transmissions, ABS, TC, proximity braking, touch screens, yaw control, and on and on. Even today's F1 cars are low-tech, aside from the "power unit" and even that tech is now seen as an error. The revolution in road cars has been long and steady. It continues. I do not believe F1 played a part in that, as F1 has largely been behind road cars. It was more driven by regulation and the wide-spread growth of digital controls. "

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by MossMan, 07/09/2017 7:36

"I think the things about "road relevance" are: 1) I don't think we want F1 to end up seeming low-tech and old-fashioned compared to our own family cars, and 2) like it or not there is a revolution happening in real-world automotive technology and I'm pretty sure the F1 formula has played a part in that"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Esteban, 07/09/2017 2:31

"This is why manufacturers can't be allowed to rule. F1 should have very little to do with road cars, and everything with unmatched racing... If something manages to drop down to road car technology, very good, but it should not be the purpose of F1."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by Uffen, 06/09/2017 21:54

"Spindoctor don't forget, salaries, rents, shipping, gearboxes, travel... there are a lot more costs than just chassis and aero. In any case, perhaps I should have said, "non-OEM" engine suppliers. Yes, aero is crazy pricey."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Spindoctor, 06/09/2017 16:07

"There is not really any such thing as an "Independent" Engine supplier.
Even the "cheap" old V8's were a manufacturer only product, and although Power outputs between makers evened-out pretty well. I recall loads of whingeing in the last V8 Formulas that Teams were being "ripped off".

RBR won its championships with better aero! It's the aero that's really pricey

As Steiner says "only" 20% of the costs for Haas are PU the rest is chassis & aero.... "

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Uffen, 06/09/2017 14:02

"One of F1's larger mistakes was the current engine formula. The costs and complexity made manufacturer participation mandatory, rather than optional. So, now "road relevance" is the go-to excuse for every silly notion. My hope is that the next engine formula will allow independent engine makers to have a true shot at not only participation, but success.
I, too, fear Liberty's approach will lead to empty showmanship and baseball-like statistics (in the form of data) that dull the mind and bedazzle the audience. "

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by Jezzer, 06/09/2017 13:07

"Bloody "Road relevance" again!!!!! How long until they realise the two aren't and shouldn't be connected. Bunch of idiots. "

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Steiner's vision for a bleak F1 future

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page