Guenther Steiner not "completely mad" as slicks gamble a risk too far

Turkish Grand Prix

Steiner not "completely mad" as slicks gamble a risk too far

Haas boss had said team must gamble for stronger results

Sam Hall

Monday 16 November 2020 17:04

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes he proved he is not "completely mad" by refusing to take a late Turkish Grand Prix gamble and switching to slick tyres.

This season Steiner has often claimed Haas must take risks and make bold strategy calls in order to negate the performance difference to the midfield runners and collect points.

That was highlighted in the Hungarian GP when on a damp track both cars were pitted at the end of the formation lap to take on slicks, with the decision yielding Kevin Magnussen's only point of the season.

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Asked if the team had considered making the switch on this occasion on a drying Istanbul Park track, Steiner answered: “No, we didn’t want to do that.

"That was too risky because I am not so sure they would have worked. Maybe [in] the last 10 laps, but we didn’t consider them."

Haas appeared to have nothing to lose with Romain Grosjean out of the race and Magnussen running last of those on track, but Steiner has revealed there was a far bigger picture to consider.

He said: “We had to also see what the opposition did. We had done enough things wrong in the race so we couldn’t do the next thing wrong.

"Kevin was running at the time, like everyone else, on the inters so I think that was the safer bet than doing something completely mad and maybe going off somewhere with two laps down and destroying a car.

“It wasn't worth it in the battle and he couldn’t make up places. We couldn’t go this quick on slicks that we would make up two laps.”

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