Haas Motorsports has fired its former Formula 1 team boss Gunther Steiner. While this is a very sensible decision for Haas as a racing organization looking to succeed in F1 (and after the team finished in last place in the 2023 Constructor’s Cup it’s probably coming a little late), it’s a devastating blow for fans of Netflix’s Drive to survive.
While perhaps one of the least successful team leaders in recent memory, Steiner was a godsend for the reality show producers at Box to Box. He is an absolute character, a true weirdo in a way that only European sport can produce. He is brash, loud, opinionated, full of strange sayings and bizarre jokes, and he apparently got along well with everyone. (Except occasionally his drivers.)
In other words, everything about him is perfect for a reality series, especially one that’s trying to get off the ground. In fact, he worked for one of the lowest-ranked teams in the sport, so he had nothing to lose by allowing cameras into his paddock and behind the scenes for countless access.
For the most Drive to survive‘s five seasons, Steiner has essentially remained the show’s main character. Of course, the show now has much more access to the rest of the teams than before, with even the top teams lining up to get their shot in front of the camera, but there’s still no character quite like Guenther.
Steiner was also a fantastic entry point into the sport. A careful, eccentric explainer of racing, Steiner has a knack for teaching viewers about racing without even realizing it with his talking shorts. Moreover, his incredible Northern Italian dad energy provides a nice break to the young self-confidence of all the drivers.
The only problem with all this is that he didn’t help Haas score any points. He became a reality star, but that didn’t translate into results on the track, meaning his days at Haas were numbered. Steiner will be replaced by Ayao Komatsu, who has been Haas’ track engineer since 2016 and also often appeared on the track Drive to survive.
The good news for Drive to survive fans is that, even though Guenther is one of a kind, there is never a shortage of characters involved in Formula 1. We’ll just have to wait two seasons from now to find out who, as the upcoming season – probably sometime arrives in February or March – follows his final year as team boss of Haas.
