Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has explained how team has moved to a three-person pit gantry set up to save money that they can invest into car development.
During every track activity, teams set up a gantry on the pit wall where race engineers and team management observe and analyse the performance of their cars, communicate with drivers and make decisions on strategy.
Usually, team pit gantries feature enough room for around five to seven personnel, but Haas have raised eyebrows in the Bahrain test by setting up a svelte three-person pit gantry. Steiner told media including RaceFans that the slimmed-down set up amounted to a significant cost saving towards their budget cap.
“When you need to make [savings], you look at everything, but not efficiency,” Steiner explained.
“When you need money to invest in development, because we are at the cost cap, where do you put it? You have six people out there, or a quarter of a million [dollars] on car updates? I know what we are doing.”
Steiner reiterated that the move would save around a quarter of a million dollars on the team’s transport costs over the course of the season. The three spaces on the gantry are limited to only personnel that are operationally required, with Steiner explaining that means he is not present on the pit wall at this test.
“The guys came up with that idea and I said ‘if I need to stay inside, I have no problem to do it as well’,” he said. “I don’t need to be there.
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“But they said ‘with three seats, we can cover what we need to cover’ and we rearranged, but it’s mainly a saving to put that money into development because we are at the cost cap.”
F1 team’s pit gantries at Bahrain test
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