Formula 1 boss Guenther Steiner ‘would have f***** the whole paddock’ for two points last season as Netflix Drive to Survive star delights in Haas finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton

Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner has joked that he ‘would have f***ed the whole paddock’ for two points last season after a fine start to the current campaign.

The 2021 season was one to forget for Haas, who wrote off development of their car to focus on the new regulations for 2022, and faced the full brunt of that decision.

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The American outfit were the only pointless team on the grid at the conclusion of the 22 race season, cut well adrift at the back of the grid, with rookie drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin only able to fight each other.

The closest Haas came to points during a forgettable campaign was in a chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix, where Schumacher came in 12th despite six retirements and a disqualification elsewhere in the race.

Haas’ write off of 2021 has paid dividends in the current campaign though, despite pre-season drama which saw Mazepin dropped and the loss of their lead sponsor due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mazepin was then replaced by former driver Kevin Magnussen who managed to cross the line fifth in the Bahrain season opener, taking home a huge 10 points after a baron 2021.

The team’s progress in the following Saudi Grand Prix was stunted by a nasty qualifying crash for Schumacher, before Magnussen encountered some bad luck with a safety car.

The Dane still managed to finish ninth though, ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, taking home two championship points.

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And his boss, Steiner, who has become a star of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, was as poetic as ever in his summation of the race when asked if he was frustrated by only claiming ninth spot.

“It is always disappointing, you always want the maximum but if you think about it, you cannot be too greedy,” he explained.

“Last year, for two points, I would have f**ked the whole paddock. It’s a good place to be.

“The biggest issue was that we started on a different strategy like two other cars and the Safety Car came out at the wrong time for us, at the most inconvenient time.

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“But on the other side, you could see three cars dropped out in front of us so we are lucky with that one.

“But I think if the strategy had of worked out and the Safety Car wouldn’t have come out, we could have been seventh.”

Haas are now in their seventh season in Formula 1, and despite being just two races into the current campaign, they are on pace to match their best-ever constructors championship finish of fifth in 2018.