Pre-publication | How did Guenther Steiner learn that Haas F1 sidelined him

Excerpt from Unfiltered by Guenther Steiner

'Hi Gene,' I said. 'How are you? Happy Christmas.'

I’m not usually keen on answering telephone calls when I’m in the process of trying to choose quality pork-based products in an Italian supermarket at Christmas time, but at the end of the day he was my boss.

'I’m fine,' he said. 'Happy Christmas to you too.' He then spent a minute or so talking about not very much at all, and I was just about to ask him where all this was leading when he stopped and changed the subject. Thank God. 'Why do you think we’ve been doing so badly, Guenther?' he asked.

'We’ve been through this a million times Gene,' I said. 'In order for us to improve you have to invest some money and get us closer to the budget cap.'

There then followed a mini tirade about how much money he had invested in the team over the years, which I countered by reminding him that the team had recently been valued at close to a billion dollars, and that I had even recently found him $200 million in external investment which he had declined. 'I also know some people who are interested in buying the team outright, Gene,' I said. 'Just say the word.' Another mini tirade followed about him not wanting to sell the team, which I had been expecting, and then he stopped.

'Anyway, Guenther, your contract is up for renewal and I’ve decided not to renew it.'

'OK. Gene, that’s fine with me,' I said, and then I hung up. The call cannot have lasted more than six or seven minutes front to back. After ten years.

Given what had happened over season and our impasse regarding investment and the budget cap, I maybe should been expecting it. The fact is, however, that by the end of 2023 I was numb and had not been able to consider anything very much at all, apart from how the hell we were going to get our the mess we were in. All of a sudden, the feelings of inertia that had consumed me for as long as I could remember lifted. I was a free man.

'Who was that?' Gertie asked casually. She had absolutely no idea what had just happened.

'That was Gene,' I said. 'He’s let me go.'

'He’s what?!' Her voice must have gone up at least an octave and doubled in volume.

'He’s let me go,' I repeated. 'As of now, I am no longer the team principal of the Haas F1 Team. I’m a late-middle-aged unemployed man.'

'But he can’t do that.'

'He can, and he has. It’s his team. Guess what this means though? I’m a free man, Gertie.'