Guenther Steiner notes that the arrival of Simone Resta at Haas is in line with the F1 team’s technical re-structure after losing its way in 2018.
While his exact role is yet to be confirmed, it is certain that Resta will be at a senior position at Haas, which will pave way for a technical re-structure, as per Steiner. The Italian comes in with wealth of experience from Ferrari and also Alfa Romeo/Sauber.
Many linked it with the arrival of Mick Schumacher but Steiner played it down, as it was later reported by Racefans.net, that Haas will have inflow of more members from Ferrari. It won’t exactly be a ‘junior’ team, but Maranello will help them as much as in the regs.
The step from Ferrari seems logical, especially with the Cost Cap coming in from 2021 F1 season, which will force the Italian manufacturer to trim down. Mercedes is already helping out Aston Martin and Williams, similar thing can be expected from Maranello side too.
“The position for Resta, we are defining,” said Steiner. “For sure, it will be a very senior position, obviously. Simone was at Ferrari for a long time in a very senior position now, so he wouldn’t come without having that one, it would be no point arriving there without a senior position. The connection to Mick is not direct.
“Obviously, we work very close together with Ferrari, so when it was discussed we needed to reinforce our technical team after we went a little bit backwards the last year. So, he was a good choice – but it has nothing to do directly with Mick driving. We are restructuring ourselves on the technical side because we have fallen a little bit behind.
“So, for sure it’s a big boost that we get back on our feet again to get to the performance we had in 2018. You need good people and Simone was at Ferrari a long time and that had a short stint at Alfa Romeo. He was available and we took him,” summed up Steiner, as the close work with Ferrari will end up helping them mostly for the big 2022 change.
Ferrari’s Mattia Binotto echoed the sentiments of Steiner. “At first they are customers,” he said. “I think that’s straightforward and obvious. We are supplying them power unit and gearbox for the next seasons, as we did in the past. Some of our people, a few people, will join their team.
“I think that’s a great opportunity for them because by doing that they can reinforce their technical organisation. That’s something which was necessary for us because we have to reduce our organisation of today to fulfil what are the limitations of the budget cap. Those persons will be in Maranello in a completely separate building to Scuderia Ferrari so they will not have access to the Scuderia Ferrari building.
“Still, obviously, Haas is a fully independent team compared to Ferrari. It is not a junior team, we are not exchanging information beyond what’s possible per regulations. So it’s a completely different organisation, independent to Ferrari. But today, if I may choose and I have to reduce my organisation, I’m certainly more happy to know that those guys are joining Haas and reinforcing their team instead of being simply on the market and available to whatever other team. So that’s certainly the way we are looking the collaboration.”
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