Steiner Picks F1 Legend Over Verstappen: 'With Our Car, He Wouldn't Win'

Saturday, 30 December 2023 at 05:00

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said in a recent interview that even the triple World Champion Max Verstappen could not win with their car.

In a recent survey conducted by Formula 1, drivers were asked to pick the top ten amongst themselves, and they picked Max Verstappen as the best driver currently on the F1 grid.

Verstappen's qualities are undisputable after what he achieved during the course of the 2023 season. However, Haas's team principal would not pick the Dutchman if he was allowed to pick only one person from the whole paddock. In a recent Q&A with The Athletic, he was asked:

"You can choose one person currently working in F1 to immediately join your team for free. Any team, any background, any role. Who is your pick and why?"

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As a team principal, Steiner is aware of what his team needs the most at the moment, and the last place in the championship is not his driver's fault. Consequently, he said:

"I will take Adrian Newey because I’m sure he can make a car which can win."

Adrian Newey is a chief technical officer at Red Bull Racing, and he is the man behind one of the most dominant cars Formula One has ever seen - the RB19 (Red Bull's 2023 car).

To further illustrate how valued Newey is in the paddock, the double World Champion Fernando Alonso recently said he is happy to live in the same time - that Newey produces Formula 1 cars. Steiner continued:

"The answer is quite obvious. Even if you take Max [Verstappen] with our car, we wouldn’t win. I think if we had a Red Bull, Nico could win races, and Kevin."

Interestingly, neither Nico Hulkenberg nor Kevin Magnussen has been fortunate enough in their careers so far to drive for a team competing for the championship. Nevertheless, Steiner believes they could win the Championship if they were in Verstappen's and Sergio Perez's positions.