On the evening of Wednesday 10th January, Haas announced to the world that Team Principal Guenther Steiner would be leaving the team, effective immediately. The news came as a shock to most of the racing community as Steiner has been team principal of Haas since 2016 and was a vital part in the formation of the team as he worked hard to get the team into the F1 team roster.
The teams best result came in 2018 when they finished 5th in the Constructors Championship with 93 points and had a 4th and 5th place finish at the Australian Grand Prix! The achievements of 2018 have not been replicated in recent years with Haas slowly making its way down the championship table and having inconsistent results. The team’s biggest moment, however, was at the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020 when driver Romain Grosjean survived one of the biggest crashes in modern F1 history where his car was ripped in half, bursting into flames, and he walked away with minor injuries to his hands. Steiner referred to the incident in his book, Surviving to Drive, released in 2023, as one of the most terrifying things he had ever witnessed.
Ayao Komatsu has been promoted from Director of Engineering to Team Principal ahead of the 2024 season with owner Gene Haas saying this “fundamentally [has] engineering at the heart of [their] management”. In a statement to F1 Gene Haas also stated that Steiner’s removal was “about performance” as he had “no interest in being 10th anymore”. There were a few harsh words from Gene Haas given the commitment Steiner made to the team however drivers Magnussen and Hulkenberg both expressed their gratitude and sentiments towards Steiner on Instagram.
The understanding, at the moment, is that Steiner and Haas had very different visions of the future with Steiner arguing that a bigger investment into the team, factory, and equipment needed to be made in order to see higher performances from the cars and drivers. Haas however, decided he needed to see the team moving in the correct direction before he invested heavily in new equipment and buildings.
In 2023 Haas struggled, producing another lacklustre season with very few points scored. Despite Steiner’s departure coming as a shock, it was the result of his contract coming to an end and not being renewed rather than his contract being terminated. Given the fact that his contract was due to run out in early 2024, Steiner can’t have been altogether surprised at the decision to shake up the team. Speculation has started about what Steiner’s next career move will be. With the wealth of experience he has, he won’t be out of work for long! There is one suggestion that he could be joining the team for Andretti Cadillac who are working towards a spot on the 2026 F1 grid.
Guenther Steiner was one of the biggest personalities in the F1 paddock as well as the star of the Netflix documentary “Drive to Survive”! He will definitely be missed by F1 fans and journalists as so many of his words have become infamous over the last few years. Is this the last F1 will see of Steiner, or will he be back with a bang!?
Written by Cesca.
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