F1 News: Haas Chief Makes Sly Jab At Honda - "Manufacturers Come and Go"

Guenther Steiner believes that F1 teams don't have to become works outfits to win races. Manufacturers come and go but teams continue to stay in the long run

Haas F1 cars have been powered by Ferrari engines for quite some time but they're yet to achieve their best in the championship. Scuderia, meanwhile have made it to the top countless times. 

The contract with Ferrari not only includes the engine but also the gearbox. However, things are about to change in 2026 when there would be six engine manufacturers to choose from. 

Red Bull-Ford, Honda, Audi, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Renault would become official works outfits while the other four teams, including Haas, will be customers. 

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner believes in working towards the future in Formula 1 as a team and not as an engine manufacturer. He states the teams are here to stay but manufacturers come and go. 

He might have been referring to Honda's departure from Formula 1 in 2020 and their expected return in 2026 as the works power unit supplier to Aston Martin. 

Guenther says: 

“I wouldn’t say you need to (become a works team), I mean, you need to look into where you want to be in five to 10 years.

I think we are all at the moment overthinking what is coming in ’26. I think there will be solutions to it, because not everybody can have a works team."

“It looks like for ’26, there are only six engine manufacturers. So four teams will need to take a customer engine. We will be one of them for ’26.

But, looking forward, we need to see how Formula 1 is going, because – and I don’t want to sound negative – but manufacturers come and go, and teams stay, so we need to think that as well.

It could be also maybe teams are happy not to be a manufacturer in five years. So let’s see what time brings.

But, at the moment, I think we are ready for ’26. We’ve got the customer engine and make the best out of it.”

Sounding confident about 2026, Gunther quotes Aston Martin's example to explain that a team doesn't necessarily have to be an engine supplier to be successful. The team in question has been ahead of its engine supplier’s works team, Mercedes.

“I just give one example, Aston Martin: what engine are they running? Mercedes. Where is Aston Martin? In front of Mercedes at the moment,” he said

“While you are all thinking that will change in the future, you always have to live in the reality as well.

There is a good chance that the customer team can do better than the works team like it is happening right now and you have to move with it, it’s not something I dream up."

He goes on to justify the idea that a works team could fail if it doesn't produce good engines. So there are advantages of being a customer as well. 

“And then also in 2026, there are six engine manufacturers. And how do you know that all do the same good job? There could be two or three which do a worse job, but if you are with the right manufacturer, you are in front of the other one.

“So, there are pros as well to being a customer. If you go out there and make your own engine, and the engine is not good, what have you achieved then?

“I think it’s all open and only the future will tell. I think that we can dream up a lot of scenarios, which could and should happen, but the fact is that at the moment a customer team is beating the works team – and not a bad works team by the way!”

Gunther's statements have been quite uncommon but they do make sense, especially looking at the way Aston Martin has been performing. But as he said, only the future will tell how it all shapes out.