Guenther’s Steiner’s greatest F1 moments: From first to ‘fok!’
Gunther Steiner’s energy, passion and knack for delivering great quotes from the hit Netflix series Drive to Survive has endeared him to F1 fans around the world. Let’s record his best moments since leaving Haas.
Gunther Steiner stood out as one of Formula 1’s last true ‘characters’ in an age of media-indoctrinated clichés.
News that the flamboyant Italian has now left to become Haas F1 team boss means the world championship is about to become less glamorous. Gene Haas, the American businessman and NASCAR team owner, took over the job, but the Haas F1 team was largely built in Steiner’s image. This perfectly mirrors Steiner’s starring role in Netflix’s hit series Drive to Survive.
This immediately led to a mix of “memorable” GP moments and phrases that have been used in racing parlance ever since. We’ve picked six of the best moments from The Fall of Steiner.
Haas finished sixth on his debut at the 2016 Australian GP.
Grosjean’s outstanding performance earned Haas a point on his Australian GP debut in 2016 when he finished sixth.
It’s best to start from the beginning. Haas was great from the start. Romain Grosjean, driving the 2016 VF-16 car, finished sixth in the team’s Australian GP debut, partly using parts from the Maranello parts bin (under regulations that allow teams to buy certain parts from other teams).
The Frenchman, who qualified from the bottom row of the grid, went as high as 10th before the safety car was activated following a heavy collision with Fernando Alonso’s Haas team-mate Esteban Gutierrez. This meant Grosjean finished a perfect 6th, using medium tires and completing 39 laps. This is the first time the team has scored points since its Toyota debut 14 years ago.
“Yesterday I said I was looking forward to the race, but to finish in the points was a dream come true,” said Steiner after the GP, where several “F-bombs” were dropped. Shame we didn’t get Gunther’s assessment of Gutierrez, Grosjean’s ill-fated teammate (again in 2016). Gutierrez was also kicked out of the Ferrari warehouse.
From rockstar to ****man – Australian GP 2018
Steiner was not a fan of the Melbourne Games.
Even after two years, all was not normal. After finishing 8th in the 2016 championship, Haas looks to have a solid foundation. Decent results followed in 2017, with Grosjean and new team-mate Kevin Magnussen taking an impressive 7th and 6th in Melbourne in 2018. The pair ran an impressive fourth and fifth before falling short with just two laps remaining. Magnussen’s left rear failed to secure properly at his first stop on lap 21, forcing him to stop on track, while Grosjean’s left failed five minutes later in similar conditions. Caught on camera on Netflix’s Drive to Survive, Steiner uttered the immortal words on the phone to team owner Gene: “I just made a mistake.” Fourth and fifth, we look like rock stars. Now we look like bastards! A bunch of bloody clowns.”
With that statement, one of many catastrophes for a team facing F1’s biggest crisis, Steiner sealed his fate as a fan favorite in the series. Big Rich Energy – 2019
Haas’ 2019 season: not the best
Haas finished fifth in the 2018 Constructors’ Championship, but suffered a decline a year later.
Reflecting the traits that plagued Steiner before he left the team, the Bunbury team fielded cars that were often dynamite in qualifying but ended up in the middle of nowhere due to blown tires during the race. Haas kicked off the 2019 season by garnering as much attention as possible by announcing title sponsor Rich Energy, led by eccentric entrepreneur William Storey.
After being flown by helicopter to the Royal Automobile’s extravagant launch event on London’s Pall Mall (as detailed on Netflix), Story tried to make the car perform in a race. In short: “We are overheated. Little by little we are afraid,” Steiner said, watching the Austrian’s painless doctor. Storey later announced on social media that he had withdrawn his sponsorship from Haas. The Haas pair crashed during the British GP and Steiner was caught on Netflix and responded by sending the driver 16 “F-bombs” in two minutes and defusing boss Magnussen’s frustrated reaction. “It’s not a ‘Fock’ knocking at my door.” Another Steinerism about the book.
Grosjean’s Fireball – Bahrain GP 2020
Grosjean’s fatal crash in Bahrain 2020
Not all comedies are golden. Grosjean’s horrific and fatal crash at the 2020 Bahrain GP took center stage in the third series, showing the more vulnerable human side of Steiner and his team. “You can’t do anything. You’re just a passenger,” he said, describing how it felt to sit on the road and witness such an accident. “It feels like the world is closing in on you. Seeing fire is the worst thing that can happen to you. That is bad. Everything goes through your mind. You don’t think anyone’s going to get out of here alive.”
Amazingly, after spending time under the barrier and being engulfed in a sea of fire, Grosjean emerges from the flames relatively unscathed. Steiner paid tribute to the FIA doctors who helped the Frenchman escape and said he wanted to thank them with a few “F-bombs”. “****, they did a great job.”
Steiner Ship – 2021
Back to the mundane bureaucracy of F1: In 2020 and 2021, Steiner struggled to keep Haas alive amid COVID-19 and owner Gene’s reluctance to foot the bill. The answer was to bring in two drivers with significant support. Nikita Mazepin, good friend of Vladimir Putin and son of Uralka oligarch Dmitri, and Mick Schumacher, son of F1 legend Michael and F2/F3 champion. Along with Schumacher, Steiner endorses almost every product under the sun to raise money, from giant toy ships to saunas. “It’s always been my dream to be in the Lidl catalogue,” he jokes to Netflix.
There will be no more Russians in 2021/2022.
Mazepin’s tenure at Haas is over.
rabbit
Few drivers have caused as much controversy in recent years as Russia’s Nikita Mazepin. He was banned from racing in 2016 for punching F3 rival Callum Illott in the face, but sparked controversy again in 2020 when he inappropriately groped a woman’s breast on her Instagram story.
This happened shortly after Haas made the announcement for 2021. Mazepin was retained despite huge public outcry and Oralkali reportedly paid a hefty sum for the seat. At the start of the season, the Russian failed both physically and competitively, crashing at the first corner in Bahrain on debut.
Instead of resigning, Mazepin whines incessantly about the situation, bringing up another Steiner classic via Netflix. “**** shit! “That’s why people hate you!”
When Mazepin was thrown into the sea on the eve of the following season after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Steiner said, “There are no more Russians. Before I left this planet, my business with the Russians was over.
Finally, the first one is GP São Paulo 2022.
Magnussen’s sprint pole in 2022 is a highlight for Haas.
The 2022 Sao Paulo GP saw what would be Haas’ (and certainly Steiner’s) greatest moment in F1 as Kevin Magnussen took the lead in the Brazilian sprint race.
He managed to get out and run the banker reins as the gloomy skies darkened in Q3 and a time of 1 minute 11.674 seconds put the Dane at the top of the timing screen. As George Russell drove his Mercedes into Turn 4, the red flag flew and the sky cleared.
This means no one can time the K-Mag better, so Haas will go first on Saturday. “That’s what we all dream of,” Steiner said. “I worked hard for seven years. It’s not luck. Deserved.
“When it rains soup, you have to prepare a spoon, and today I prepared a spoon!”
