Guenther Steiner SHOCKINGLY departs from Haas after leading the American outfit since 2014

Guenther Steiner has announced that he will be leaving Haas effective immediately, making way for Ayao Komatsu as the new Team Boss.

Guenther Steiner SHOCKINGLY departs from Haas after leading the American outfit since 2014

Guenther Steiner (via Haasf1team.com)

In a shocking announcement that has been made in the months following the end of the 2023 season of F1, Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner has left the American outfit. The former-engineer-turned-team-boss has been attached to the pinnacle of motorsports for over 20 years in various roles under different teams. He had started off in F1 as the Chief Race Engineer, and then went on to become the Director of Engineering. But he had been serving as an integral part of Haas since the debut of the team in Formula 1 back in 2016.

It was in 2014, when the Haas F1 Team was still being built, that Guenther Steiner had been announced as their Team Boss. While Guenther Steiner never found the success at Haas that he had been getting when he was a part of Red Bull, he was still considered as an able chief. The Italian led Haas to become the first American team in F1 in 30 years. And it was under his guidance that Has became the first team since Toyota to score points in their F1 debut.

Recently, Haas have hit a new low in their performance as the team finished at the last spot on the Constructors’ Championship Standings in 2023. They took up a new racer–Nico Hulkenberg–in place of Mick Schumacher at the end of 2022. But both Hulkenberg and his teammate Kevin Magnussen‘s efforts were not enough to help Haas as they only scored 12 points out of the 22 races that happened last year. And now, Guenther Steiner has been confirmed to be leaving Haas in the wake of such disastrous results. In his place, the former Director of Engineering Ayao Komatsu will rise up to the Team Principal role.

Guenther Steiner rose to stardom because of the ‘Drive to Survive’ series

Guenther Steiner is a contemporary of Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner as they had both joined the Austrian outfit at the same time. But Steiner left the team after a few years as Adrian Newey was poached from McLaren. Guenther Steiner has been quite successful in working for the teams like Jaguar and Red Bull from behind the curtains, but it was the hit Netflix show ‘Drive to Survive’ that catapulted him to celebrity status.

Guenther Steiner
Guenther Steiner (via IMAGO)

Most of the times, the F1 Team Principals are not the ones who come before the media as the drivers have to take up those duties. But Guenther Steiner’s antics at the F1 paddock and his attitude of speaking his mind and even swearing out loud amused the fans. Guenther became such a sensation thanks to the Netflix docuseries on the paddock lives of the F1 team personnel that he even released his own book named ‘Surviving to Drive’, with a forward written by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.

As Guenther Steiner is leaving Formula 1 for now by departing from his role at Haas, it remains to be seen what he would do in the future. The 58-year-old former Team Principal already has experience working in different formats such as the European Rally Championship. Gene Haas, the owner of the Haas F1 team, has extended his thanks to Steiner for his years of work at the team.

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