Haas boss Gunther Steiner "surprised by the reliability issues of Ferrari engines"

Haas boss Gunther Steiner “surprised by the reliability issues of Ferrari engines”. Gunther Steiner on the Ferrari PU issues.

In the last three races of the 2022 Formula 1 season, Ferrari had to raise the white flag with both drivers in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, during which both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc both finished their race prematurely due to technical reasons. More specifically, at the Baku City Circuit, the Monegasque driver experienced the same problems with the power unit as previously accused in Spain, in a period in which the two customer Ferrari-powered teams also had to deal with retirements for technical reasons.

Between Alfa Romeo and Haas, the latter was the one that paid the most for the reliability issues of the Maranello power unit, much to the displeasure and surprisement of Haas team principal Gunther Steiner.

The manager from Bolzano, who had to deal with retirements for Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher in all the last three rounds of the 2022 Formula 1 world championship – twice for the Dane and once for the Ferrari junior, excluding the various retirements for reasons that can be attributed to accidents or other failures – did not in fact hide his perplexity regarding the Ferrari power units, expressing his disappointment for these almost completely unexpected circumstances at the beginning of the season: “I was a bit surprised, also because in the first five races everything was going quite well – he said – the tests were good too, then suddenly the problems started. So yes, I was taken a little by surprise ” – Gunther Steiner admitted.

Moreover, the other aspect that does not make the Haas team principal calm is linked to the answers given by Ferrari regarding these problems, which, at present, do not yet have a specific cause: “If Mattia Binotto had any explanation – Gunther Steiner added – they would have solved the problems already. They are looking into the matter because, as disappointing as it is for us, it is perhaps even more so for them, given the fact that they are fighting for the championship. I don’t even know what broke, or why, on our car from the start. It’s one of those things you don’t worry too much about wanting to know, because even if I did, I couldn’t do anything about it anyway ” – the Haas Team Principal concluded.