Steiner Admits He Stayed at Haas F1 'Two Years Too Long'

Former Haas F1 Team team principal Guenther Steiner has finally opened up about his departure from the American outfit, admitting he should have left earlier—specifically two years before his contract was not renewed at the end of the 2023 season. Steiner, who built the team from scratch ahead of its 2016 F1 debut, revealed his feelings on the High Performance podcast.

Steiner said he stayed too long because he realized the team's ownership would not commit to the infrastructure investments he deemed necessary. "I think I stayed two years too long. What I should have done better or differently was to explain my vision better so they would do it, but I don't know if I would ever have achieved that. What I should have done was just say, 'Hey, it's not working. I'm leaving now,'" he explained.

Despite the regret, Steiner does not rue his decision to stay. "But in the end, I don't regret not leaving two years before. I'm pretty fine with it. With hindsight, that's what I say, but at the time it wasn't this bad because otherwise I would have done it," he added.

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His exit was ultimately decided by Gene Haas during a brief phone call, and Steiner admitted he was happy to have the decision made for him. "[The decision] was taken away, but I was pretty happy that it was taken away. Sometimes you want to make a decision, but then you don't. When it came to it, I was very happy when it happened because I didn't agree with where the team was going. My vision was different than the owner's," he said.

Recalling the phone call, Steiner said: "I was at the supermarket, and I answered [...] I was at the deli counter picking up my ham for the night, or salami, and my wife was with me. It was quite funny. I told her, 'I'm not with Haas anymore,' and she said, 'What do you mean?' all in the supermarket."

Since leaving F1, Steiner has moved into television punditry, is a regular guest on The Red Flags Podcast, and has taken ownership of the MotoGP and Moto3 team KTM Tech3. His career in motorsport is far from over, and his experience at Haas serves as a valuable lesson on the importance of alignment between team ownership and management.