Guenther Steiner has not been the Haas team principal for a couple of years now, stepping down at the end of 2023. He currently focuses on commentating and analyzing Formula 1 races, remaining a prominent figure frequently discussed in the paddock.
The ironic story: “They gave me penalties and I had to pay the fines”
During an appearance on the podcast The Red Flags, Steiner revealed that Haas forbade him from speaking with the stewards while he was still team principal. He said, “At one point the team wouldn’t let me go talk to the stewards. They kept saying, ‘Guenther, you can’t go,’ because they were giving me penalties and I had to pay fines.”
Steiner is well known for his very direct approach, something he never tried to hide in front of cameras. He added, “Everyone told me that my opinions and manner didn’t help, but in the end, if they were doing something I didn’t like, I had to say it. And the stewards would just say, ‘No, we think we’re right.’ You end up with all these nonsense situations, as usually happens… it’s not an easy job. I would never want to be a steward, especially because you work for free. But money is a small part of the job, I would have gone crazy.”
This last remark—“I would have gone crazy”—was in reference to the penalty given to Oscar Piastri. Steiner was responding to a question: “If you had been the team principal and Kevin Magnussen found himself in Oscar Piastri’s situation at the restart of the Brazilian GP, how would you have reacted to the 10-second penalty?”
Many believe McLaren did not handle Piastri’s situation in the best way, as they could have challenged what they considered an excessive penalty. Steiner appears to agree and even joked that he would have taken the fine in place of Andrea Stella!
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