Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted that the American side are “not as privileged” as the “rich” teams on the grid, with the Italian revealing that there are no plans for mechanics and engineers to be rotated during the upcoming season.
2022 saw some teams rotate their staff, with there being plenty of awareness of how physically, and mentally demanding Formula 1 is nowadays.
With 2023 set to consist of at least 23 races, that is an incredible amount of travelling for a person to deal with, something which has seen some of the wealthier teams rotate staff.
This system allows a team’s employees to remain at the side’s base, rather than travel across the globe.
READ: Michael Andretti accuses F1 teams of being ‘greedy’, reveals US sponsor worry
Even the likes of Mercedes boss Toto Wolff missed some races in 2022, highlighting just how demanding the sport has become, without even considering the racing itself.
Haas are, of course, a very small team in F1 terms, so don’t have the ability to rotate their employees, meaning that no such rotation system will be seen at the American outfit.
Steiner actually enjoys going to all of the races and has even stated that he’ll only miss a race if he’s “sick”.
“I’m not as privileged as them, you know, I have to go to the races, actually – these are the rich people which can afford not to go because they’ve got so many people working for them,” Steiner said on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
READ: Toto Wolff comments on ‘deadline’ for 2024 Lewis Hamilton contract
“And to be honest, I don’t dislike to go to races. This is what I’m doing, what I like most. Going racing, it’s one of the things I do like. I will go, hopefully, with 24 races you never know if you’re sick on one race or something – I hope I’m not – and I will go to all the races.
“It is a long season, but rotating the staff? We don’t have a plan to rotate continuously, proper, whole team. There will be a few positions will rotate in the team. But the main people, the mechanics and the engineers, will be always the same.”
For 2023, Haas have a slightly altered line-up with the experienced Nico Hulkenberg having been signed to replace Mick Schumacher, with the former Aston Martin reserve driver to work alongside the remaining Kevin Magnussen.