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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Daniel Moxon

Guenther Steiner has clear F1 plan if Ferrari or Mercedes offer team principal job

Guenther Steiner's ambition is clear to see – but he has a specific vision for how he wants to win.

Make no mistake, that is why he is in Formula 1. He has been leading the Haas team since it first began racing in the sport in 2016 and, though there have been soaring highs, the team has never won or secured a podium.

The team has become more popular in the last couple of years and a big factor in that has been its team principal. Steiner has never chased the limelight, yet he has become a cult figure among fans of the sport.

His blunt, brash and brutal style of communication made him an instant hit with viewers of the Netflix Drive to Survive series. As a result, he is one of the most high-profile team principals on the grid despite leading the smallest outfit.

Has that surge in popularity changed his career plan? Does Steiner fancy himself to one day pursue F1 glory in charge of one of the top teams on the grid, such as Ferrari which he has a strong relationship? "No!" he replies firmly in a sit-down chat with Mirror Sport in London.

He adds: "What I would love to do is make Haas win! That is the desire I have, which is bigger than going into a team that is winning and just being an administrator of it. I am a Haas man – I don't know for life, but for the foreseeable."

He speaks about his team as if he is the owner, though of course that is not the case. Gene Haas continues to fund the project, making Steiner the steward of someone else's baby anyway – but he sees it differently to doing the same for any other team on the grid.

"You'd rather not have an F1 team because it's a liability as well!" he jokes. "If it goes wrong, I don't have the means to keep it alive. I'm very conscious about that.

Gene Haas owns the team while Guenther Steiner runs it for him (Getty Images)

"The passion comes from the idea I had to make the team. I didn't have the money and still don't, but I found Mr Haas who had the passion and had the money to do it. And he let us do it.

"If you found something, I think you're more attached to it than when you’re called in to be the administrator for a period of time. It's a difference – even if the team isn't mine, it's still my brainchild.

"Without Mr Haas we couldn't do it, but we can do it and therefore I've got this passion to bring the team to a place where, one day, it can be without me."

Not that Steiner wants that situation to come about any time soon, as he hastily adds: "But we're not there yet! If you put someone else in it will continue, it will not stop without me – but I've still got things which I want to do."

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