Steiner's book Unfiltered gives a perfect insight to ten years in Formula 1
General
- Ludo van Denderen
There has been no escaping it recently: Guenther Steiner has been a guest at many motorsport media outlets, talking about his latest and second book, Unfiltered. As was the case with his first book, the global bestseller Surviving to Drive, he gives a detailed insight behind the scenes of Formula 1. It's filled with the requisite humour and, of course, often the word 'fok'.
Steiner was the driving force behind the Haas F1 team for more than a decade. He himself had built the team from the ground up. It was the Italian who found Gene Haas as an investor; it was the same Steiner who put the right people in place, and together, they embarked on a huge adventure in the absolute top class of motorsport. More than just a series of stories, Unfiltered shows how Steiner, Haas and certainly Formula 1 have changed in a decade.
This is how Steiner got Haas F1 off the ground
Thinking aloud, Steiner states in the book that what he did with Haas is no longer possible; building a team worth at least a billion dollars from nothing. No doubt he is right in that. For any F1 enthusiast, it is interesting to read how the Italian travelled all over the world with a PowerPoint presentation to pitch his project to potential investors and how he was kept on the leash for months by Gene Haas but finally succeeded in realising his dream.
It was a dream that gradually became a nightmare, with ever-increasing tussles between him and Gene Haas. The American almost begged for more investment so that Haas F1 could take the next step in its development. But it was like flogging a dead horse; at least, that is how it felt to Steiner, as he wrote numerous times.
Lots of humour in Steiner's book
Of course, there is still plenty to laugh about in Unfiltered. There are topics covering Christian Horner, Toto Wolff and Nikita Mazepin, for instance. Steiner explains how Mazepin's dad once paid for a new F1 chassis for his son completely out of his pocket because Nikita felt something was wrong with the original one. That kind of madness is also Formula 1, Steiner reveals.
As has become apparent in the media recently, Steiner is full of stories. GPblog has also covered some of them. Those who can't get enough of them will be tremendously excited about this second book.
Unfiltered by Guenther Steiner is currently in bookstores.