Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner recently revealed that he was informed of his departure from the American team during the Christmas break.
The Italian-American has been Haas’ team principal since it entered F1 in 2016. The team announced earlier this week that it would relieve him of his duties after finishing last in the constructors’ championship for the 2023 season.
The decision came as a surprise to everyone, as there was no comment from Steiner in the team’s press release.Talk to Craig Slater sky sports, the former Haas manager revealed he was informed of his departure before the new year. He said:
“It was a call from Gene Haas to me. I was in Italy for Christmas vacation, and he called me between Christmas and New Year’s.”
He said he was surprised by the decision but insisted his contract was due to expire at the end of 2023, adding:
“Obviously no one was happy with the result in 2023, but we never expected it to be like this. We knew our contract was up for renewal, but it’s coming up. However, there is a possibility that it may not be updated.
Gunther Steiner criticizes Jean Haas over ‘celebrity’ status
The former team principal was one of the most popular figures in the paddock after being the star of the Netflix series Drive to Survive.
Asked if his ‘celebrity’ status in the paddock was one of the reasons behind his departure and deterioration of relationship with Gene Haas, Steiner admitted: .
“It wasn’t, and looking back on it now, it could have been. But in the end, that celebrity gave the team a lot of exposure and brought in really good sponsors like MoneyGram. We brought it in because they liked it and we could take advantage of it.” [profile].
“There’s always a positive and a negative side to any deal, so maybe there’s a positive and someone brought up the negative. I didn’t go looking for celebrities, so I always plan It’s not something you can do. It happened to me and it only happened to me.” People who know me know that, so I’m okay with that. ”
Gene Haas previously said Steiner’s departure was purely performance-based and no outside factors were involved.