Guenther Steiner has defended Haas' decision to previously gamble on inexperienced drivers, after signing F1 stalwart Nico Hulkenberg for 2023. Ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Haas team confirmed that they would be dropping Mick Schumacher in favour of Hulkenberg, who has secured his first full-time F1 drive since 2019. F1 returnee Hulkenberg will be making his 185th Grand Prix appearance in next season's opening race and, when asked about the main reason for signing the 35-year-old, Steiner commented that his experience would be beneficial to the team. "He was in F1 for a long time, he was with teams in the midfield for a long time, so he knows how they work, how to make them better," Steiner commented to media, including RacingNews365.com . "Wherever he was the team always made progress, and that's our aim; to do that here. "Experience takes time to make and at the moment we don't have time, because we want to move forward. "We don't want to be where we are now, we want to get better."
Steiner defends gamble on younger drivers
Haas' 2023 driver line-up moves away from their recent philosophy of favouring younger drivers. For the 2021 season, Haas dropped Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in favour of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, both of whom were complete beginners in F1. That partnership would have continued into 2022, but Russian driver Mazepin was dropped during preseason testing, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Magnussen was brought back into the team and has largely outperformed Schumacher this season. With Haas opting to replace Schumacher with the vastly experienced Hulkenberg for next season, Steiner was asked if he regretted moving away from experienced drivers in recent seasons. "Absolutely not," commented Steiner. "Two years ago, we were at a different position, and now we're in a different position again. "I think we're in a lot better position now in Formula 1 in general than two years ago when we had to find solutions on how to keep going."
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