Steiner says 'his style' would not be allowed at certain teams
F1 News
Guenther Steiner was Haas F1's team principal since the team joined F1 until the end of 2023, when he was let go by Gene Haas. Steiner was highly-favoured by fans and Drive to Survive producers alike. Steiner, however, explains why this style would not work for a big corporate team, like Mercedes.
Guenther Steiner is famous for his quotable moments on Drive to Survive. So much so, at this year's Miami Grand Prix, he also shared that Driver to Survive still ask him to feature on the show. He, however, says his style would not fit a team like Mercedes and it was suited more for Haas.
"I think behaving like I behaved, it wouldn’t have damaged their [Mercedes'] brand. But they wouldn’t have allowed it. I don’t behave badly, I just have got my own style. And I think a big corporate that doesn’t like that, because it is a big corporate," the former team principal began on the Formula for Success podcast.
He added: "At a small team, you have got a lot more freedom, but that comes at the price, you don't have the resources and you don't have so many people behind you to try and help you to make the decisions. Every team is a little bit differrent."
"McLaren, which I think, as a corporate structure, is one of the strictest ones, and then Red Bull, which as a corporate structure, of the big teams, it's the most easy-going. When Dietrich Mateschitz was around, he was giving a different feeling, it was a big corporate, but still with one guy calling the shots."
"I’m not saying one [style] is bad, and one is good. I’m just saying they’re just different and you have to deal with that. And I think that the style, how I ran Haas, I guess wouldn’t have worked with Mercedes. I just take Mercedes because it’s a big corporate, nothing else, to have something compare with [my style at Haas]," Steiner explained.