Tag: Guenther Steiner

Haas responds to Steiner legal action with book lawsuit

Haas and its former team principal Guenther Steiner are involved in multiple legal battles after different lawsuits were brought from each side. Steiner was the first to bring a lawsuit against his former team following his departure at the start of …

Haas and its former team principal Guenther Steiner are involved in multiple legal battles after different lawsuits were brought from each side.

Steiner was the first to bring a lawsuit against his former team following his departure at the start of this year, initiating legal action over alleged breach of contract over unpaid commissions from the final three years of his employment. In that suit – filed in Mecklenberg in North Carolina – Steiner also claims that Haas has profited from his connections and knowledge, as well as continued to to use his name, image, and likeness in its promotional materials and merchandise.

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“With decades in motorsport and connections throughout the Formula 1 circuit, Mr. Steiner brought instant credibility to Haas F1 as team principal,” the suit read. “When Netflix’s award-winning series Drive to Survive debuted, Mr. Steiner’s notoriety and personality quickly propelled Haas F1 to fan-favorites in the series, and in the process, transformed Haas F1 from an upstart racing team to formidable brand on the F1 circuit.”

Now, Haas Automation, the parent company that is the title sponsor of the F1 team, has launched a lawsuit of its own alleging trademark infringement in the sale of Steiner’s book ‘Surviving to Drive’.

The lawsuit brought against Steiner and Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California claims Steiner did not have consent to use Haas Automation trademarks in the book, and that it could lead to confusion about any affiliation or sponsorship of the book.

“In 2023, without permission or consent from Haas Automation, Steiner authored, marketed, promoted, sold, distributed, and profited from a publication titled ‘Surviving to Drive’ (the ‘Accused Product’), which unlawfully used and displayed, and continues to use and display, the Haas Automation Trademarks and the Haas Automation Trade Dress for Steiner’s personal financial gain and illicit profit,” Haas Automation’s document states.

“Haas Automation never consented to Steiner’s use of the Haas Automation Trademarks or the Haas Automation Trade Dress on the Accused Product.”

Steiner calls for greater clarity on defending after Alonso penalty

Formula 1 needs to be more clear about what is and isn’t an acceptable level of defensive driving in the wake of Fernando Alonso’s penalty at the Australian Grand Prix, according to Guenther Steiner. Alonso was given a retrospective drive-through …

Formula 1 needs to be more clear about what is and isn’t an acceptable level of defensive driving in the wake of Fernando Alonso’s penalty at the Australian Grand Prix, according to Guenther Steiner.

Alonso was given a retrospective drive-through penalty — converted into 20 seconds of race time — for driving in a “potentially dangerous” manner when slowing ahead of George Russell on the approach to Turn 6 late in Sunday’s race. The decision has sparked debate on what counts as skillful defense and when it crosses a line, but speaking after being announced as a new Miami Grand Prix ambassador, former Haas team principal Steiner says clarity is the most important outcome.

“I haven’t seen the data, I just read what you’ve all read, that he was on the brakes and tapping the brakes and things like this,” Steiner said. “I think we are at the point now where, we had it with Kevin [Magnussen] where he was defending in Saudi Arabia, now Fernando defending the position…

“I actually was with Checo [Perez] on the plane back from Melbourne and we had a quick chat about it, and we came to the conclusion that fighting this hard for P6 is a little bit overdoing it. I mean, I know that everybody needs the points, but it’s like, ‘Wow.’ I think we are at the limit.

“But also, the stewards’s verdict — you are wrong but you are right — it wasn’t very clear to me. ‘You get the penalty but we don’t know if you should get the penalty.’ It’s like, ‘I give you the penalty but I’m not sure if you’ve done wrong.’ So I think it needs to be a clearer stance, and it needs to be the same for everyone as well.

“I think we were on the limit there — if not over the limit.”

Aston Martin has opted against appealing the penalty given to Alonso — despite it costing the team two points overall — citing a lack of new evidence that would allow it to request a right of review.

Steiner named ambassador for Miami GP

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has become an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix to try and continue Formula 1’s growth in North America. Steiner left his position at Haas over the winter after nearly a decade in charge of the team, and …

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has become an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix to try and continue Formula 1’s growth in North America.

Steiner left his position at Haas over the winter after nearly a decade in charge of the team, and has since taken on duties as a pundit and analyst within F1. As an ambassador for the race in Miami, Steiner will help promote the event both in the build-up and by making appearances during the race weekend itself, to help continue the evolution of one of the three American races on the calendar.

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“It’s one of the races which I was there from the beginning and I always like things like new things that are not different to do them different, but different to do them better,” Steiner said. “Since I’m not at Haas anymore I spoke with Tom Garfinkel [Miami GP managing partner] and his team and they said, ‘Hey, can we do something together?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I will try and help you to send the message about the event,’ and also if there is some need I can advise them.

“I think Miami is one of these races that has come on the calendar I would say quite unexpectedly when it first came on three years ago. It was completely different, and I think it raised the bar for all the other races. I think we are people who forget very quickly, and what other people did is do things similarly, which I think is good for Formula 1 because it increase people’s interest having so many activations around.

“They always come up with new ideas how to do things, and every year there was investment to make it better, and I was quite intrigued by that. When the opportunity came I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, let’s do something together here and try to push it,’ because we still want all the race fans coming to races in the U.S. We have got three races now, which if you think of the population of 350 million is not something outrageous, but I think Miami is doing a very good job and they keep on growing.”

Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp says Steiner’s understanding of what the American market wants and the growth potential for F1 in the region made him the ideal addition to the race promotion team.

“Guenther has become a household name with F1 fans of all ages and is a perfect ambassador for our race,” Epp said. “He embodies the competitive spirit of the sport and has a clear vision of what F1 in America can be.

“Having someone with his experience, reputation and candor attached to our event will undoubtedly add to the excitement and elevate race weekend to a new level. Guenther understands the cultural relevance of the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix and we’re excited that he has chosen Miami as the race he wants to help promote.”

‘I stayed at Haas too long,’ Steiner admits

Guenther Steiner believes he “stayed at Haas too long” before his departure this winter, with the team unable to fight at the front in Formula 1. The former Haas team principal held the position since it entered F1 in 2016 until he was replaced by …

Guenther Steiner believes he “stayed at Haas too long” before his departure this winter, with the team unable to fight at the front in Formula 1.

The former Haas team principal held the position since it entered F1 in 2016 until he was replaced by Ayao Komatsu ahead of this season. Steiner was present at the Bahrain Grand Prix working as a media pundit for German television and is also writing a column for the official F1 website, where he admits he had lost sight of the targets he wanted to aim for.

“Life has been good since I left Haas ahead of this season,” Steiner said. “These last few weeks are the first time I’ve switched off from F1 for around a decade. This time has been good for me. The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long.

“When you step away, you get clarity and you can see what you need to do. While you’re there, you’re in denial — you think you can do it but you cannot.

“When I was there, with what we had, you could still fight for being seventh, eighth or ninth but you couldn’t fight for podiums without the same weapons as the other guys. Doing that in the long term is not what I want to do in life. I don’t want to be seventh again. I’ve done that. I want to be able to fight, to battle at the front.”

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Steiner points to the development of Mercedes as an example of how a team with the right resources became a dominant force, saying he’s only interested in a return to the F1 grid if it offers more potential for progression.

“When Toto Wolff started with Mercedes, the team at the time was not at the top. Yes, they had the advantage of the engine at the beginning, but he set everything up right to be successful in the mid-term — and they won eight constructors’ championships. It’s the same thing with Red Bull. How long did it take for them to get there? Every year, they kept on getting better. You need that patience and long-term planning.

“I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right.”

Haas tired of being ‘humiliated every weekend,’ highlights need for aero advances

Gene Haas says he no longer wants to be “humiliated every weekend” and wants to see further changes to his Formula 1 team’s aerodynamic department, following the departures of Guenther Steiner and Simone Resta. Steiner was replaced as team principal …

Gene Haas says he no longer wants to be “humiliated every weekend” and wants to see further changes to his Formula 1 team’s aerodynamic department, following the departures of Guenther Steiner and Simone Resta.

Steiner was replaced as team principal on Wednesday, with Haas making the surprise move of promoted director of track engineering Ayao Komatsu into the role. Technical director Resta has also left — although RACER understands that decision had already been made prior to Steiner’s departure — and the team owner says there was a clear area where Haas needs to improve.

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“I think we’ve actually got a great formula here,” Haas told the official Formula 1 website. “We have Ferrari engines which probably have more power than anybody right now. We have Ferrari hardware, we have a good chassis. I talk to a lot of the engineers and I think our biggest failing is aero; our aero program needs work. When you’re at the track and you’re humiliated every weekend, I’m going to stop taking that one anymore.”

Haas says the decision to part ways with Steiner, who has led the team since its inception a decade ago, was solely down to results after finishing at the bottom of the constructors’ championship in 2023.

“It came down to performance. Here we are in our eighth year, over 160 races — we have never had a podium. The last couple of years we’ve been 10th or ninth [sic — Haas was eighth in 2022].

“I’m not sitting here saying it’s Guenther’s fault or anything like that, but it just seems like this was an appropriate time to make a change and try a different direction, because it doesn’t seem like continuing with what we had is really going to work.

“It is [hard], I like Guenther — he’s a really nice person, a really good personality. We had a tough end to the year. I don’t understand that, I really don’t. Those are good questions to ask Guenther, what went wrong. At the end of the day, it’s about performance. I have no interest in being 10th anymore.

“We need to do better. It’s easier to keep sponsors and attract sponsors if we’re a mid-pack team and not a dead last team. That’s my perspective on it. At the same time, if we can run a little faster, we’ll get more FOM [Formula One Management] money, which will make life a bit easier.

“It’s really all about winning. We have a great team, we have great engines, we have really great drivers. There’s no reason why we are 10th. I can’t understand how we can be with all the equipment and people we have.”

Guenther Steiner out as team principal at Haas F1 Team

Steiner had previously served as Haas’ team principal for all eight years of the team’s existence.

A big change is coming at Haas F1 Team for 2024.

The team announced on Wednesday that team principal [autotag]Guenther Steiner[/autotag], who has served in that role for Haas since the team’s inception in 2016, has been relieved of his duties. The move comes after a 2023 season where Haas scored 12 points and finished last in the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship.

Owner Gene Haas spoke on the decision Wednesday, thanking Steiner for his contributions to the team but insinuating that the team’s goals have not been met.

“I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future,” Haas said in a statement. “We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization. We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team.”

Steiner will be succeeded by Ayao Komatsu, who previously served as Haas’ Director of Engineering. The move comes as Haas looks to center in on the engineering side of the team, and Komatsu has over 20 years of engineering experience in F1.

“Moving forward as an organization, it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management,” Haas said in his statement. “I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential – this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.”

Steiner was particularly noteworthy among F1 fans for his appearances on Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, where he often showed off his flamboyant personality.

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Steiner out at Haas as Komatsu takes over as team principal

Guenther Steiner has been replaced as Haas team principal, with Ayao Komatsu taking over the position. Steiner has been in charge of Haas since the team’s inception in 2014, overseeing team principal duties for team owner Gene Haas. The team opted …

Guenther Steiner has been replaced as Haas team principal, with Ayao Komatsu taking over the position.

Steiner has been in charge of Haas since the team’s inception in 2014, overseeing team principal duties for team owner Gene Haas. The team opted to delay its debut season until 2016 but enjoyed a sensational opening few rounds, picking up 22 of its 29 points in the first four races before finishing eighth in the constructors’ championship.

After a best finish of fifth overall in 2018, the popular team boss guided Haas through the COVID-19 pandemic and after a scoreless 2021 the team was again eighth in 2022. However, after slipping to the bottom of the constructors’ championship last season, team owner Haas has decided to replace Steiner with trackside engineering director Komatsu.

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“I’d like to start by extending my thanks to Guenther Steiner for all his hard work over the past decade and I wish him well for the future,” Haas said. “Moving forward as an organization it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu as team principal we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management.

“We have had some successes, but we need to be consistent in delivering results that help us reach our wider goals as an organization. We need to be efficient with the resources we have but improving our design and engineering capability is key to our success as a team. I’m looking forward to working with Ayao and fundamentally ensuring that we maximize our potential — this truly reflects my desire to compete properly in Formula 1.”

Ayao Komatsu has served as Chief Race Engineer at Haas F1 since its launch, and has now been elevated to the team principal role. Andy Hone/Motorsport Images

Komatsu has also been with Haas since the team first joined the grid, and will be supported in his new role by a European-based chief operations officer that the team says will manage all non-competition matters and departments.

“I’m naturally very excited to have the opportunity to be team principal at MoneyGram Haas F1 Team,” Komatsu said.. “Having been with the team since its track debut back in 2016 I’m obviously passionately invested in its success in Formula 1. I’m looking forward to leading our program and the various competitive operations internally to ensure we can build a structure that produces improved on-track performances.

“We are a performance-based business. We obviously haven’t been competitive enough recently, which has been a source of frustration for us all. We have amazing support from Gene and our various partners, and we want to mirror their enthusiasm with an improved on-track product. We have a great team of people across Kannapolis, Banbury and Maranello and together I know we can achieve the kind of results we’re capable of.”

Haas needs short-term gains before big changes – Steiner

Haas needs to ensure it improves its position within Formula 1 in the short term before considering more major changes to the way the team is structured, according to team principal Guenther Steiner. The 2023 season started encouragingly for Haas …

Haas needs to ensure it improves its position within Formula 1 in the short term before considering more major changes to the way the team is structured, according to team principal Guenther Steiner.

The 2023 season started encouragingly for Haas but it soon faded with poor race pace and the team ended up finishing at the bottom of the constructors’ standings. With many of its rivals currently investing heavily in new infrastructure, Haas retains its setup that employs Dallara’s manufacturing capabilities alongside a Ferrari partnership, and Steiner says it has proven successful in the past.

“Nobody wants to be 10th here,” Steiner told RACER. “You feel the pressure, obviously, because you want to do better. If I didn’t feel the pressure then I would be happy with that, and I’m for sure not happy with where we are.

“I think what we need is to work hard and find the performance on the car so that we can get better… we know we can do it because we have done it before.

“We did this analysis of what we need to do. I think at the moment where we are is actually a help to move forward again, because you can rely on what we have got and what we have done before. If we now try to do everything ourselves, normally when you would do such a big step you have to make a step backward to do two forward, so the risk would be even bigger to be worse off than we are now for the short term.

“Obviously the mid- and long term is a different story, but at the moment we need to get out of the hole in the short term in my opinion to show what we can do, and then we can think, ‘Could we allow ourselves to make a step backwards?’ But if you make a step backwards now, where do we end up?

“So at the moment we need to be patient and conscious and work with this business concept we are using now, with this model, and just try to get back to where we were a few years ago.”

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Although Haas effectively wrote off its 2021 season to stabilize financially and be able to invest in its 2022 car, Steiner says the way F1 has changed in such a short space of time makes a similar decision less likely.

“You never want to do that — you cannot allow yourself to even think about that,” he said. “It’s not like I can go out there and say, ‘Yeah, we’ve decided for two years we will definitely finish 10th.’ We have done that before when we were struggling in the COVID years; we cannot do that and we do not want to do that because we have also a responsibility to all the people who work here who put a lot of effort in to move forward.

“We just need to push that we do what we did before. We always were the smallest team and finished very well. It’s not like it’s just now; the last three or four years there was no bad team in Formula 1 — they were all very good.

“Everything is getting closer and closer together. I go back to the Brazilian qualifying — from P1 to P20 in Q1 there was around 0.8s. 0.8s is nothing. So it’s just like that little bit and that little more can move you quite a bit.”

Haas upgrade hasn’t worked as expected, Steiner admits

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the technical upgrade introduced at the United States Grand Prix is not working as expected so far. A change of concept to follow the Red Bull approach was brought to Austin this weekend as Haas delivered …

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says the technical upgrade introduced at the United States Grand Prix is not working as expected so far.

A change of concept to follow the Red Bull approach was brought to Austin this weekend as Haas delivered its largest in-season upgrade ever in order to learn more about its direction for next year. With just one practice session to learn about the new package before parc ferme regulations kicked in, the team was keen to temper expectations but Steiner says the pace shown in the sprint meant it was still underperforming.

“It didn’t go to plan today,” Steiner said. “We’ve got more work to do but initially we’re not very happy with what’s happened, so we have to see how we tackle tomorrow. We found a few things and went in the wrong direction, but it’s difficult to jump to a conclusion after one practice, two qualifying sessions and one short race. At the moment, we have to find more as the upgrade’s not done what we expected.”

Both drivers dropped out in SQ1 and then struggled overall in the race with Kevin Magnussen crossing the line in 18th place following Lance Stroll’s retirement.

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“It wasn’t a great sprint — the pace dropped off a lot, so we’ll investigate tonight and assess what we think,” Magnussen said. “We can’t change anything for tomorrow, so it is what it is, and we’ll see what we can do. I got a decent start and a decent first lap, then stayed there for a few laps before the well-known cycle of getting overtaken and the tires dropping off started.”

While Magnussen saw familiar issues, teammate Nico Hulkenberg was slightly more positive after a 15th-place finish in the sprint.

“It feels like the first real running with the car, to be honest, because in practice there’s so many things going on,” Hulkenberg said. “Then, there were just two qualifying sessions which were also short, just two runs each time, or less. It’s good to get some proper mileage with it, some long-run data and some feel for it.

“Obviously, it doesn’t look too good right now, but there’s more for us to analyze and understand, and more to discover with this package. At a sprint weekend it’s difficult to explore that and unlock it.”

Tire worries ’embarrassing’ – Steiner

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says it is “embarrassing” to have a situation where track changes are needed because the layout damages tires, after revisions at the Qatar Grand Prix. Pirelli discovered initial signs of damage to the tire …

Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says it is “embarrassing” to have a situation where track changes are needed because the layout damages tires, after revisions at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Pirelli discovered initial signs of damage to the tire construction on all compounds after Friday’s running at Lusail, with analysis suggesting the repeated impact of the highest part of new exit curbs was to blame. That led to the track being moved 80cm inside the exit curb at Turn 12 and Turn 13 to keep cars off the most severe sections, and Steiner says it’s a situation that shouldn’t arise in a world championship.

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“It’s not right” Steiner said. “Finding a solution… I don’t know where the history of these new curbs come from but it just came up out of the blue. I think there was signs already two years ago we had issues, but there were different curbs. They were supposed to develop some curbs that don’t damage the tires, but apparently the curbs we have developed damage the tires.

“I don’t know exactly where it comes from, these tires I think just cannot deal it. I do not have a lot more information than you as I just got the email from the FIA saying what they’re going to do. I didn’t speak with Pirelli yet to see what actually is happening.

“I think if they found issues with the tires that is what they need to do to make sure you’re not having a situation like a few years ago when you’ve got tires going down, which is never good.

“It’s a concerning thing for the future. It shouldn’t happen. This should not happen in Formula 1. Clearly … But it has, and now we have to see how we get out of it. The good thing coming out, there are solutions for this race weekend but going forward this shouldn’t happen again.

“I don’t know if you want to call it embarrassing, but in the end, it is embarrassing because this is not where we should be.”

While unhappy with the situation occurring in the first place, Steiner says the right response has taken place from Pirelli and the FIA to deal with the issue, having informed teams on Saturday morning of the track changes, provided an additional 10-minute familiarization session for drivers and outlined potential restrictions relating to stint lengths in Sunday’s race.

“It was decided this morning, not tonight – it’s not a lot of difference, but at least they are proactively doing something for tomorrow and now going out and changing some of the track limits so you’re not going over those curbs… should help a little bit. I don’t know if that solves the problem because it wasn’t clear to me, they are doing three corners where the track limits will be changed so we don’t go on the curbs.

“I don’t know if it is only those curbs, or other ones as well. They don’t know as much as they would like to know otherwise we wouldn’t have ended up in this place.

“For safety reasons, for sure, if they see any risk of seeing flat tires they will have maximum running of the tires of 20 laps, is my understanding for tomorrow for the race.”