“We look like a bunch of wankers": sweary F1 boss who found Netflix fame gets axed

Here’s news sure to shock millions of F1 fans around the globe: Guenther Steiner, the sweary and charismatic team boss made famous by Netflix’s Drive to Survive, has been axed by the Haas F1 team.

News of Steiner’s shock departure broke overnight with Haas confirming the Italian has left the team with immediate effect.

His replacement will be director of engineering, Ayao Komatsu, who has also featured in Drive to Survive.

Steiner has been in charge of Haas Formula 1 since 2016 and was pivotal in the team’s creation, however a recent string of poor results seems to have led to his axing.

3

Despite some flashes of success, including a pole position in Brazil last year, Haas finished dead last in the standings in 2023 as it struggled to transform its strong qualifying pace into decent race results.

Formula 1 distributes prize money to teams based on where they finish in the constructor’s championship, so finishing last means Haas’s budget has taken a huge hit for the 2024 season.

As one of F1’s smallest teams, Haas has long faced budget restrictions and has built its business plan around buying engines and other parts/technology from other teams — mostly Ferrari — to help manage costs.

3

Budgetary issues have also been a point of contention between Steiner and team owner Gene Haas, according to reports, with Steiner pushing for greater investment to help improve performance and Haas keen to make better use of the team’s existing resources.

Technically Steiner wasn’t fired — his contract was up for renewal at the end of last season and Haas has simply chosen not to extend it.

Gene Haas said the following in an official statement:

“I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future.

“Moving forward as an organisation, it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management.”

Steiner wasn’t quoted in the official release from Haas.

Steiner has enjoyed a long and successful career in motorsport. Now 58, the Italian worked as an engineer and team manager in the World Rally Championship before moving to Formula 1 in 2001 with Jaguar as team principal. A stint at Red Bull Racing as technical operations director followed before Steiner made the jump to Haas as team principal for its debut season in 2016.

Today’s news is sure to cause some discomfort among the producers at Netflix. Steiner found unexpected fame in the Drive to Survive docuseries, where his big personality and fondness for swear words saw his profile grow to rival that of some drivers.

The news has also rocked the wider sport, with numerous high profile personalities sharing their thoughts on social media. F1 commentator and former driver Martin Brundle said the following:

“Always significant when the departing person is not quoted in the press release, tells you there’s friction, suspicion we’ll hear more about this. The team hasn’t progressed in recent seasons, but hard to know exactly why without being on the inside. Good luck Guenther. And Haas."