Too big for his boss, or all talk and no walk?
Steiner has paid the price for last seasons dismal performance by being dismissed from Haas halfway through the off season.
With more fans than most F1 Drivers, Steiners no nonsense and lovable approach to business and the media will be well and truly missed in F1. Having become a social media and TV sensation across the globe in part thanks to Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’, Guenther Steiner was dismissed on 10 January 2024 to be immediately replaced by Ayao Komatsu, the long serving track side Engineering Director.
Steiner, 58, helped Gene Haas form the Haas F1 team in 2016, but led the team to finish bottom of the constructors table in 2023. They certainly did show some form on Saturdays, particularly with some quality qualifying laps from Nico Hulkenburg, but come race Sundays, not matter where they started they seemed to fall backwards.
Haas, who use Ferrari engines along with Sauber, (branded Alfa Romeo in 2023), were reputed to be far too heavy on their tyres in race trim, wrecking their Sundays and destroying their points tally through last season.
Haas also spent much of the 2023 season ‘developing’ their car with upgrade packages, only to find it went faster when all of the ‘improvements’ were removed towards the end of the season. In terms of a development programme, this represented outright disaster for Haas, who found themselves further behind their competition at the end than at the start! It must have been catastrophic for motivation to find the whole years development had only slowed the car down!
Announcing his replacement with the promotion of Ayao Komatsu, Gene Haas has iterated this isn’t about preparing the team for sale or pleasing new investors.
Having spent more than 7 years with the team, there will no doubt be some farewells to be had in the pub, as Steiner was not permitted to say farewell to his staff at Haas. Rumours are that many staff at the team have known for a couple of weeks, and Guenther since late December, but nonetheless, he won’t be visiting HQ any time soon to bid Auf Wiedersehen, bis zum nächsten Mal (Good bye, until next time).
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