Guenther Steiner on 'risky' F1 silly season: "Last year, drivers were a concern"

Ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Haas confirmed they would keep the same driver line-up for next season.

It means Magnussen will drive for Haas for a seventh season, while Hulkenberg gets a second one after impressing.

Haas opted for two rookies in 2021 - Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin - and after that experience, Steiner has expressed his preference of going for experience.

“If you look around at this options, there’s not a lot without risk,” he said. “And I don’t want to take any risk at the moment because I don’t think that’s appropriate. You can take a risk if the risk is worthwhile to take, but at the moment, we want stability. 

“We have got one part of the team sorted out well with the drivers, in my opinion. Now we have to work on the car to sort that one out.

‘You go step by step. Last year, the drivers were a concern. This year, they are not a concern. Next year, they will not be a concern. Good. Tick the box and move on to the next thing you have to improve.  

“It's getting more and more difficult with the drivers. Either you take a big risk – big risk is big opportunity as well.”

Steiner believes Haas simply aren’t in a position to take a “risk” with a rookie like McLaren have with Lando Norris in 2019 and Oscar Piastri for this year.

“McLaren has done very well with the last two drivers,” he said. “They took Lando and they took Piasti. Piastri, he seems to be OK, they need a bit more to come to the conclusion, with Lando they’ve gone very good. 

“There’s other teams, there’s one that works, but three or four others that didn’t. So it’s still a risky business to take a young driver and how to go about it, I don’t know. You have to take a risk and hope for the best.”