Guenther Steiner interview: 'I should have left Haas F1 earlier - I was shown no respect'
EXCLUSIVE: Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner sits down with Mirror Sport to discuss his new book 'Unfiltered' his exit from the sport and why he is in a legal fight with his old boss Gene Haas
by Daniel Moxon · The MirrorThere is a bite to his words.
Guenther Steiner has always been a straight-talker - he's famous for it, and also his pronunciation of the word "f**k" - and that doesn't change as he reflects on his acrimonious split from Haas.
"I should have left earlier," he says. "I was fighting an uphill struggle where I had no chance to win."
With the benefit of hindsight, even if he didn't show it at the time, Steiner was miserable about what he perceived as a lack of investment in the team he had built from the ground up. That was how he saw the Formula 1 outfit, as his baby. It bears the name of US businessman Gene Haas, who he convinced to fund the project over a decade ago, But Steiner came up with the concept, forged the relationship with suppliers Ferrari and used his charm to get F1's American team onto the grid.
It all started fairly well and, in just its third season of existence, Haas finished a lofty fifth in the constructors' championship. 2019 saw a slump but it was when Covid hit that things took a real turn for the worse. Two finishes of 10th and dead last in three years were not how Steiner wanted to bow out, but it wasn't necessarily the results which spelled the end of his time in charge.
The whole story is documented in his new book 'Unfiltered' - a story which Steiner now admits should have been a whole lot shorter. Because in the final few years, all he and the owner did was disagree over the level of investment the paddock's smallest team needed to do anything more than just tread water. Until a "six or seven-minute" phone call last December to inform the Italian that his services would no longer be required.
"We started off, we had nothing. We worked our way in to be respected in F1. We achieved a lot of things. But then, after Covid was over, there was no traction anymore," he laments. "We were spinning our wheels, you know? It's more of the same. I want to have success. And what is success? Going on the podium, trying to win, at least to have a fair chance to go on the podium.
"But if you yourself think, 'It's not going to happen with how we are doing it, the best we can hope for is getting sixth or in a fantastic year, fifth'... I've done that, got the T-shirt. But when you're in the trenches, you don't realise it anymore. You keep on going. But when you're out, you realise, 'Wow, should I not have left before?' Yes."
Since their first race in 2016, Haas have never scored a podium finish. There were a few close calls and the momentum they had in those early years made it seem like it was simply a matter of time. But, during the latter years of Steiner's tenure, the team was often lucky just to be in the fight for the odd point here or there.
As for his ambitions to win, and have real success? "It wasn't going to be possible," he says glumly. "When you're in there, you always try to do your best for the team. But then, when you're a great distance - I'm 60 next year, and you keep on fighting for more of the same. You just work day and night, put all the energy in and the best and the only thing you can do is fail.
"You cannot win because the limitation is there. You've got the limitation, because if you look at the other teams, I mean, they've got the better facilities, they've got more money to spend on development. Everything is there, and I don't think I'm smarter than them because they're pretty smart people. If I'm as smart as them, I'm already proud, already happy. I don't need more, and that's what you have to realise.
"You have to look at yourself in the mirror. How can I do this? I cannot. But when you're in there, you forget about that, because you just keep on working, you know? But then when you're out of it, you say, 'Well, would it have not been better to leave', I don't know, in the middle of '22, saying, 'Ah, this is not going to work, I'll just try to do something different'."
These days, he is exploring quite a few of them. Most importantly, away from the demands of the relentless modern F1 schedule, Steiner can spent far more time with his family. He can even take on projects with them now, such as the 'Villa Steiner' hotel in his hometown of Merano in South Tyrol, F1-themed and renovated by his wife, Gertie.
Not that he is cut off from the F1 world. As news broke of his departure from Haas, he fielded calls from TV channels asking him to make appearances and he has done several races this year for Germany's RTL. UK broadcaster Sky Sports asked Steiner to do one race, he reveals, but he had to turn them down as he had already agreed to do that same event for German-language TV.
He doesn't rule out a future appearance on our screens, though, and Sky would no doubt love to have him. Although he insists he never sought the spotlight, his unique accent and straight-talking ways made him an instant hit with fans through the Netflix Formula 1: Drive to Survive series. He is particularly popular in the US, where he lives with Gertie and their daughter Greta in Mooresville, North Carolina.
Right now, he is promoting his book while also fulfilling a tour of the UK doing speaking events for fans. He started the week doing a show in Bournemouth and ended it up in Liverpool, where he regaled a packed Philharmonic Hall with tales from his F1 adventures. It is not all fun and games for Steiner in life after F1, though, evidenced by legal battles he has been embroiled in with his former employer.
He has already claimed victory in one of them - a judge in California dismissed the case filed by Haas that he had infringed upon their trademarks in his first book, published last year. There has not yet been an outcome to the case brought by Steiner himself in North Carolina, where he has sued his old team for alleged breach of contract and claims he is still owed money by the team.
Given how much he put into the team and for how long, it is a shame that his departure has turned so ugly. But he insists he has not, and will not, lose a wink of sleep over the fact he is no longer on speaking terms with his old boss. "I don't regret it. I think it wouldn't have been necessary, you know? It could have been done completely differently," he says.
"There was no respect shown towards me, to be honest. I even have to fight for my money. You build up something like this, and I think for what was invested and what came out, is a pretty good return on it. But am I upset? No. There's a lot of positive things in the world. I mean, why would I lose any sleep over it?
"I go through the motions and try to get what I think is owed to me, and the rest, I don't really care. I don't care about Gene Haas, as I don't care about a billion other people who I don't know. I'm good, I'm feeling pretty happy and I'm in a good place. I know I've got a lot of friends, I've got a good family. I don't speak with Gene Haas, and I don't really care."
UNFILTERED: My Incredible Decade in Formula 1 by Guenther Steiner is out now (Bantam, £22).
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