Martin Brundle reckons there is ‘more to hear’ as Guenther Steiner’s silence on Haas exit screams controversy
Guenther Steiner suddenly got ousted from Haas after leading the team ever since their F1 debut in 2016.
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Ever since entering the world of motorsports almost 20 years ago, Italian engineer Guenther Steiner has worked for several successful teams behind the curtains. Steiner and Christian Horner had joined Red Bull together, but the former left in the middle and went to Haas. In 2014, Guenther Steiner was linked to the American team for the first time even though they had not yet appeared in Formula 1. In 2016, Guenther led Haas’ first-ever F1 campaign that turned out to be quite successful since they scored points in their debut. But over the years, Haas’ promising results seemed to decline rapidly.
In 2023, Haas wrapped up once of their most underwhelming seasons as they were at the bottom of the World Constructors’ Championship Standings. The team had taken up an experienced F1 racer, Nico Hulkenberg, to help their campaign at the beginning of ’23 in place of Michael Schumacher’s son Mick. But still, Hulkenberg and his teammate Kevin Magnussen could not help the poor finish that Haas had with only 12 points to their name from all the 22 races that were held last year.
Haas’ owner Gene Haas had not taken the last-position finish lightly, and he felt that the team needed to shake things up. It has also been rumored that he ran into some disagreement with Guenther Steiner, leading to the Italian’s sudden departure from the team. And even though the team released a statement confirming the news, and their two drivers bid goodbye to Guenther as well, the Italian remained absolutely silent about the whole matter. F1 pundit Martin Brundle feels Guenther’s radio silence gives away the disagreement he must have had before leaving the team.
Always significant when the departing person is not quoted in the press release, tells you there’s friction, suspect we’ll hear more about this.Brundle said about Guenther Steiner’s shocking Haas exit, via X.
Guenther Steiner rose to fame because of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’
Haas has never been a very prominent team in the recent years, and even their presence in the lowest order of the F1 grid has been quite neglected by the fans. But they have adored the outspoken and stern attitude that Guenther Steiner appears to have. They got to know about the Italian Team Principal for the first time when the hit Netflix docuseries ‘Drive to Survive’ documented his days at the Haas motorhome with Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.
Guenther Steiner became so popular thanks to the ‘Drive to Survive’ feature that he even wrote his own book titled ‘Surviving to Drive’. Steiner has always been known to never mince his words even when he is speaking to the media. But he still offered only radio silence when it was announced that he would be replaced by Ayao Komatsu at the topmost position of the Haas F1 Racing Team.
In other news, Ayao Komatsu has said that he expects to guide Haas to new heights in the future. He admitted that it has been frustrating for the team to not find the results that they had been looking for. But hopefully, in the upcoming seasons, Haas will be looking at better days now that their entire management structure has been shaken up.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)