06/09/2017
NEWS STORY
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.