'You don't agree with my opinion? I respect that, but don't change'

"Absolutely. Not only mine, I always put it this way, the people who were there last year, some of the people are still there," Steiner states to GPblog during an exclusive interview when asked if he feels partly responsible for the team's rise. A total reset was already the plan last year after Haas was at a dead end in terms of further development of the car: "To take a step back to make it forward" was the idea.

"The car which comes after is always of the people who were there before. It's not the people who came in in January. In January, you can't do anything in the car anymore. It is what it is. I would say that the proof is always in the pudding. And the pudding hasn't been served. So when that will be served, we will see what is out. But it's like time will tell. But I think at the moment, the success they're having, it's mainly down to the people who were there last year. And I'm saying some of them or a lot of them are still there now. So they can be proud of it."

End to the adventure at Haas

There have been some tensions between Gene Haas (the team's owner) and Steiner since the latter's departure - to say the least. Both parties have taken each other to court, bringing a long-standing relationship to an unpleasant end. Steiner shrugs: "I always feel it as life. Life sometimes puts you up in situations where it isn't how you want it to end, and you just have to deal with it.

"That's what I do. I'm not disappointed. I'm sad, no. It could have been a lot easier because I think I did a lot of good things. It's fine to me. Everybody has got his opinion about it and is entitled to it. Let's see what is coming out. But it could have been dealt with differently. But it's fine."

Guenther Steiner, TV star

The adventure with Haas has brought Steiner a lot, and not only on the track. Like no other, Guenther Steiner now knows the power of television. For years, the Italian was a hard-working Haas F1 team boss, loved by colleagues in the paddock, appreciated by motorsport enthusiasts, but not a familiar face to the general public. Since Steiner has had a prominent role in the Netflix series Drive to Survive, his world has turned upside down. Everywhere (really everywhere), he is accosted and asked for an autograph or photo.

"Yeah, it's true. And you thought I was running away from you. I was running away from the other people!" Steiner laughs with his familiar smile. Then says seriously, "The people like Formula One, and if they like what I did, it's fine. I find time to take a picture. I'm a person who didn't change whatever happened, you know, and I will not change anymore."

This is appreciated because even after his tenure at Haas, Steiner feels the warmth of the fans. "Yeah, absolutely. It’s quite a cool thing. The fans have not forgotten about it. It got more (Attention) because people were like when are you coming back? We miss you and all that stuff. Actually, I get more affection now than before, which is weird. I don't understand it."

Could Steiner return to an F1 team?

A conversation with Guenther Steiner is like you'd imagine a conversation with Guenther Steiner: wide-eyed laughter and always a joke here and there. In other words, like the Guenther Steiner everyone has seen in Drive to Survive. How he will be seen in the next series - since Steiner is thus no longer employed by Haas - remains to be seen. A comeback as a team boss is also not imminent.

"At the moment, I have no big plan to come back. I’m not coming back just for a job. If I come back, it needs to be a project which I like, and the people who are doing the project with me, because I cannot do it on my own, like to work with me, then I come back. But just to come back to take just a job, that's not for me anymore. I get older. I learned a lot. I did a lot of things in life, and the next step needs to be the next. It doesn't need to be a sidestep. It needs to be a step forward," states Steiner, who says he has 'actually not been called that much' by interested teams. "I spoke with some of them earlier in the year, but I made it always clear, and I made it always clear in the press that I'm not here just to wait for a phone call to get the next job."

Steiner did get the necessary calls from the media, though; whether he might be interested in becoming an analyst? The answer was 'yes', and Steiner is still regularly in the paddock. "So I always enjoy what I do. And when I'm on TV, I enjoy it. It's not pressure to me. It doesn't pressurise me because I don't change. I don't have to put on TV now. I'm the same guy as you speak with me. I didn't expect it to be so much fun."

Steiner always has a strong opinion

Steiner doesn't mince words in his comments. Just ask Mick Schumacher and Ralf, who think the Italian is too often negative about Michael's son. It is just one example, but no doubt more people were irritated by what Steiner said to them.

"Do I like what everybody says all the time? No. But do I respect their opinion? Yeah. We don't need to always agree. My thing is always, yes, you can have an opinion, and I don't need to be in your opinion, but that doesn't make you a bad person. But I expect the same from your side towards me. I've got an opinion. You don't like it, or you don't agree, which I fully understand and I fully respect. But do not get upset about it because you will not change me."

Because - Steiner concludes - Formula 1 is entertainment: "Yeah, it's part of it. I mean, if you all just start to say the same thing, there's no, there's no story in it."