13 January 2024 , 12:16
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Gene Haas axed Guenther Steiner over the phone during the Christmas period, as fresh details about his exit have emerged.
Steiner, 58, announced his Haas departure on Thursday after a decade as their team principal. He's been replaced at the US-based team by their director of engineering Ayao Komatsu ahead of the new Formula 1 season, which starts in Bahrain in March.
Steiner's Haas exit is a blow to many F1 fans, as he was one of the sport's most popular figures. He became a household name following the release of Netflix's documentary 'Formula 1: Drive to Survive' in 2019 and has appeared in all five series to date.
Fans have been eager to know the finer details of Steiner's exit, which have now emerged. The Italian-American's first public outing since his departure came on Saturday morning, as he appeared at the Autosport International show in Birmingham.
Steiner confirmed that he received a phone call from Gene Haas, the team's owner, between Christmas Day and New Year's Day about his future. Steiner was told that his contract was not being renewed into 2024, ending his 10-year spell in charge.
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The ex-boss also revealed his regret at not being able to say goodbye to his colleagues and fans at Haas. As quoted by Planet F1, Steiner said: "Since we have had this model, Formula 1 has changed a lot. We saw during COVID how much bigger it grew.
"How much different it got with the budget cap, how we used the budget cap. If you look at all the other teams, they were all gearing up. They are not gearing up now. They started to gear up, some three years ago, some years ago, some last year.
"I don’t know Gene Haas's plans for the future. He didn’t share them with me, he doesn’t have to, by the way. I’m actually not really interested in it anymore."
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Steiner joined Haas in 2014 and led their entry into F1 two years later, becoming the sport's first US-based team in three decades. After two modest seasons, Haas took F1 by storm in 2018 by finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship - ahead of McLaren.
Yet that was as good as it got for Haas under Steiner. They failed to record a single point in 2021 and managed just 12 last season to finish bottom of the standings.
It's unclear what's next for Steiner, who has previously worked for Red Bull. He claims he's "very chilled out about the situation" and will only return to F1 if the right job comes up. He added: "If something interesting comes along, which challenges me, yes, but just staying in Formula 1 just to do a job, maybe is now what I want to do.
"I like to be with people but it needs to be something where I can see a future in it. I don’t just want to go there and then move on to the next thing. I want to do something where you can achieve something and you try to get somewhere and then I will do it."