F1 News: Guenther Steiner Claims Big Teams Had An Advantage Under Bernie Ecclestone - "It's More Transparent Now"
Guenther Steiner, Haas team principal, has criticised former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone saying that the bigger teams had an advantage when he was in the position.
The British business magnate was in the position for over 40 years before Liberty Media came in 2017 and since then, the sport has seen a lot of change. One big change has been Stefano Domenicali stepping up as F1 CEO.
The Haas team principal spoke about the changes on F1's Beyond The Grid podcast. He explained:
“I think they are different. Definitely, they are different.
“Everybody’s included. Before with Bernie, the big teams always had a little bit of an advantage, but it’s for a good reason. They’re putting more into the sport that they are supplying power units and stuff like this.
“But I think it’s more transparent now with Stefano in charge, it’s more information. He always tries to update us on what is going on in his world [because it impacts] what our world will be, because he’s at the leading edge of it. So I think he’s just more transparent, we are more informed.”
The Italian team principal added that he feels the sport has become more "stable" since Liberty Media came in. He added:
“I’m not critiquing what Bernie did, it was different times as well, we always have to think about this, the times were different, everything was different.
“Now, F1 is a lot more popular. The money distribution is more equal. We have got 10 teams, which are all very stable.
“In the old days, we never had 10 stable teams, there was always one or two, which were lagging behind the thinking a little bit so now it’s very stable.
“But that was achieved in the way Liberty Media approached the sport, they wanted all 10 teams to be able to commercially survive. So we have a good show and nobody’s struggling.”