Guenther Steiner makes SHOCKING claim that legendary Austrian maestro Niki Lauda ‘wasn’t the fastest’ during his times
Guenther Steiner recently left his operations at Haas after spending almost a decade as the Team Principal of the American outfit.
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Guenther Steiner and Niki Lauda (via X)
Only a few days ago, the F1 world was overcome with shock as it was announced that Haas would have a new Team Principal in place of Guenther Steiner in 2024. After being at the lead of the American outfit since before it even debuted in Formula 1 in 2016, Steiner allegedly got into a disagreement over the future towards which the team is headed, and thus their owner Gene Haas decided to oust the Italian engineer. As the announcement regarding the sudden change in the team’s leadership was made public, Guenther Steiner did not give his comments at all. But Haas racers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg bid him adieu in their own statements.
As a Team Principal, Guenther Steiner has been hailed for his no-nonsense attitude and his dedication towards the team. He became a star on the hit Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ where they showed his dealings with the team drivers and the engineers at the Haas motorhome during the Grand Prix weekends. Now, Steiner is regarded as an experienced veteran in the Formula 1 scene who never shies away from airing his opinions. Thus, when he was asked which two drivers he would want to make an ideal F1 pairing, he picked Niki Lauda as one of them but have a strange reason for his pick.
According to Guenther Steiner, Niki Lauda, despite having won the 1975, 1977, and 1985 World Championships, was the fastest racer during those times. Steiner said he did not pick Lauda for his race pace, but because the Austrian could bring results and because he was “funny”.
In his time he (Lauda) was the man who, even if he wasn't the fastest, managed to bring results and, among other things, was also funny.Guenther Steiner said about Niki Lauda, via FormulaPassion.
Guenther Steiner got his big break in Formula 1 with Red Bull
Steiner has more of a connection to Red Bull than most people might realise. He started off his work for the Austrian outfit at the same time as Christian Horner. While Horner stayed on and has now become the Team Principal of the current World Championship-winning squad, Steiner left them for a move to Haas. Guenther Steiner has been with Haas ever since 2014. Two years after his joining, they debuted in F1 and was the first American outfit in thirty years to participate in the pinnacle of motorsports.
Under Guenther Steiner’s astute leadership, Haas has seen some good days since it became the first team since Toyota to score points in its debut year in F1. But the last few years have seen Haas hit a new low as the team ended up in the bottom most spot on the Championship Standings in 2023 with only 12 points to their name. Now that there are going to be some radical changes within their team, it remains to be seen if better days await Haas or if removing Guenther Steiner was the worst action Gene Haas could have taken.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)