Guenther Steiner has acknowledged that his stay at Haas was ‘too long’ after his role as team principal was terminated ahead of the 2024 F1 season.
Steiner had been in charge of the Haas F1 team since its 2016 Formula 1 debut. It proved to be a competitive team right away after scoring points in its debut race and finishing eighth in the constructors’ championship in its first two seasons. The squad went on to achieve their best result to date in 2018 after advancing to P5.
However, after the team finished last season at the bottom of the Constructors’ Championship, team owner Gene Haas decided not to renew Steiner’s contract at the beginning of this year, opting for a different approach.
Ayao Komatsu assumed command of the team marking his first promotion to team principal. Meanwhile, Steiner has been occupied following his exit, embracing job offers from other disciplines including a punditry role with German broadcaster RTL at seven rounds this season and attending the Bahrain Grand Prix to kick off the season.
According to motorsport.com, Steiner has opened up about his new outlook in life after leaving Haas. Writing his first column for formula1.com, Steiner claimed that he was able to stop thinking about Formula 1 for the first time in over a decade.
“Life has been good since I left Haas ahead of this season,” Steiner wrote. “These last few weeks are the first time I’ve switched off from F1 for around a decade. This time has been good for me.”
He also acknowledged that he was a victim of denial by sticking with the team for too long.
“The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long,” he added. “When you step away, you get clarity – and you can see what you need to do.
“While you’re there, you’re in denial, you think you can do it but you cannot. When I was there, with what we had, you could still fight for being seventh, eighth or ninth – but you couldn’t fight for podiums without the same weapons as the other guys.
“Doing that in the long-term is not what I want to do in life. I don’t want to be seventh again. I’ve done that.”
He also indicated that he would be open to a return to the sport in the future, but only for the ideal project, as he desires to compete at the front of the grid in the event that he takes on a new job in Formula 1.
“I want to be able to fight, to battle at the front,” Steiner added. “When Toto Wolff started with Mercedes, the team at the time was not at the top.
“Yes, they had the advantage of the engine at the beginning, but he set everything up right to be successful in the mid-term – and they won eight constructors’ championships.
“It’s the same thing with Red Bull. How long did it take for them to get there? Every year, they kept on getting better. You need that patience and long-term planning.
“I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right.”
