Christian Horner and Günther Steiner were once colleagues – whilst Horner went on to win titles with Red Bull, Steiner faced a much tougher challenge at Haas
Christian Horner has taken a slight dig at Günther Steiner. The long-serving Haas team principal is best known for the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, but has not actually enjoyed much success in Formula 1.
Steiner was team principal of the small US team from 2014 to 2023, during which time they finished bottom of the Constructors’ Championship on two occasions. The best result was fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2018. The highlight was Kevin Magnussen’s surprise pole position at the rain-soaked 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Apart from that, successes were rare. However, that did not prevent Steiner from becoming hugely popular thanks to “Drive to Survive”. In the series, he immediately captivated fans with his forthright manner and frequent use of strong language.
This even led the Italian to publish a book entitled “Surviving to Drive”. This highlighted just how much he benefited from the Netflix series, through which he may well have become better known than through his actual work.
Former Red Bull team principal Horner, who has won a total of 14 Formula 1 world titles, told Autosport: “These people are making a TV programme. So they film hours and hours of footage, and in the end it’s all about how you edit it.”
“You can portray someone as either a villain or a hero – or the other way round. This programme was incredibly successful because it suddenly offered a glimpse behind the scenes of some of the rivalries, the personalities, the drivers’ personalities and some of the characters.”
“Günther Steiner has made a career out of it … I mean, I don’t think he ever made it onto the podium in Formula 1,” said Horner. “But good for him. He’s a character – quite an intimidating one, back when he worked for us. But yes, it brought a whole new fanbase to the sport, and that was fantastic.”
Günther Steiner’s career at Red Bull
Steiner’s career began as a mechanic in the World Rally Championship (WRC) before he moved into Formula 1 in 2001 and became Managing Director at Jaguar. He left the team at the end of 2002.
Now aged 61, he joined Red Bull – which had taken over Jaguar – as Technical Operations Manager in their debut season of 2005. However, he held this role for just one season, as the legendary designer Adrian Newey joined the team shortly afterwards.
Steiner then moved to Red Bull’s NASCAR division, where he served as Technical Director until 2008. “When I arrived at Red Bull, they said: ‘We’ve hired this man who was recommended by Niki Lauda. He used to be at Jaguar; his name is Günther Steiner,’” recalls Horner.
“I’d never heard of him before, and when I looked him up on the internet, he looked rather intimidating. That was my first impression. Then Günther turned up,” he recalls. “He was then in charge of the RB2 with the Ferrari engine, which overheated during a shakedown at Silverstone when the temperature was around three degrees.”
“Adrian Newey came along shortly afterwards and said: ‘Well, let’s just forget about that car.’ Günther then moved within the Red Bull organisation to the NASCAR project, which was just getting off the ground. That was, so to speak, his transition into the American world.”
Steiner is now CEO of the Tech3 MotoGP team, the only KTM satellite team in the field. It currently lies eighth in the team standings with 139 points.
