No one ever really expected Haas to last this long.
They entered Formula 1 in 2016 as the American team. Not in the Red Bull “energy drink empire” way, or the Mercedes “Silicon Valley simulator” way. No — Haas showed up with CNC machines, NASCAR references, and a “buy-what-you-can” model that made the paddock deeply uncomfortable.
And yet… here they are. Still standing. Still scoring points (occasionally). Still the weird American cousin of the F1 family — sometimes brilliant, sometimes ridiculous, always entertaining.
Now, in the post-Günther Steiner era, something even stranger is happening:
Haas might actually be growing up.
The Early Years: Quick Start, Questionable Structure
When Gene Haas announced the team, nobody really knew what to expect. A Formula 1 operation run out of North Carolina with a Dallara chassis, a Ferrari engine, and a philosophy built around “just copy and buy smart”?
It sounded like a startup pitch. But in 2016, it kinda worked.
Romain Grosjean scored points straight out of the gate. The team wasn’t flashy, but it was efficient. And for a minute, it looked like Haas had hacked F1 — outsourcing development, minimizing costs, and piggybacking off Ferrari’s infrastructure.
But F1 doesn’t let shortcuts last forever.
The honeymoon was brief.
Meme Era: The Günther Show
For most fans, Haas became truly relevant when they became a mess.
Between 2018 and 2022, Haas turned dysfunction into drama. Pit stop disasters. Sponsor meltdowns (RIP Rich Energy). Driver feuds. Endless upgrades that made the car worse.
And in the middle of it all: Günther Steiner.
Swearing. Screaming. Going viral. His Netflix stardom in Drive to Survive turned Haas into the sport’s favorite sitcom. They didn’t win. But they were watchable. And in a sport drowning in engineering jargon and corporate polish, Haas was human.
Broken. Hilarious. Loud.
You never quite knew what they were doing — and neither did they.
The Low Point: Mazepin, Money, and No Downforce
2021 was rock bottom.
The car was a disaster. Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were both rookies (and one of them was, well, a PR nightmare). The team scored zero points. The vibe was grim. Even Günther looked tired.
But somehow, they survived again. Sponsors came. Mazepin left. Magnussen came back. The team stopped spinning (as much).
And then came 2024 — and with it, the biggest change of all.
Komatsu Takes the Wheel: The Quiet Rebuild
In early 2024, Haas did something shocking: they fired the face of the team.
Günther Steiner out. Ayao Komatsu in.
No memes. No quotes. Just a new direction. Komatsu, the longtime engineer and race director, isn’t trying to win Twitter. He’s trying to make the car better. Period.
Under him, the team looks more focused. The development path has purpose. The race weekends feel less like roulette and more like strategy. They’re still not fighting for podiums — but they’re back to being functional.
The culture is changing.
The meme is maturing.
What Makes Haas Haas?
They are the most un-F1 F1 team.
Built in the US. Engineered in Italy. Managed in the UK. With a staff that has to fight with half the resources and double the scrutiny. They’ve always been outsiders. But they’ve never stopped trying.
Yes, they’ve been a joke.
Yes, they’ve made baffling decisions.
Yes, they’ve set fire to a lot of their own potential.
But they’ve also survived — when bigger names didn’t.
And now, with Komatsu at the helm and Audi/Visa/Stake chaos all around them, Haas might actually be in the best position they’ve ever been: under the radar, under control, and maybe — just maybe — on the rise.
This is no longer just the team of “we look like a bunch of wankers.”
This might soon be the team of “we knew what we were doing all along.”
