Guenther Steiner admits he stayed at Haas F1 team "two years too long"

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has admitted that he stayed at the American outfit "two years too long".

Steiner, who built the team from scratch ahead of its 2016 F1 debut with the backing of team owner Gene Haas, left the role at the end of the 2023 season when his contract was not renewed.

Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Steiner reflected on his tenure and admitted he should have walked away when it became clear the team's ownership would not commit to the infrastructure investments he deemed necessary.

Asked directly if he felt he stayed too long, Steiner replied: "I think I stayed two years too long. What I should have done better or differently was to explain my vision better so they would do it, but I don't know if I would ever have achieved that. What I should have done was just say, 'Hey, it's not working. I'm leaving now.'

"But in the end, I don't regret not leaving two years before. I'm pretty fine with it. With hindsight, that's what I say, but at the time it wasn't this bad because otherwise I would have done it."

Steiner's exit was ultimately decided by Haas during a brief phone call, but the former team chief explained he was happy to have the decision made for him.

Guenther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

"[The decision] was taken away, but I was pretty happy that it was taken away," he said. "Sometimes you want to make a decision, but then you don't. When it came to it, I was very happy when it happened because I didn't agree with where the team was going. My vision was different than the owner's."

Speaking specifically about the phone call, Steiner added: "I was at the supermarket, and I answered [...] I was at the deli counter picking up my ham for the night, or salami, and my wife was with me. It was quite funny. I told her, 'I'm not with Haas anymore,' and she said, 'What do you mean?' all in the supermarket.

"We went home and had dinner and I slept perfectly and I was even happier the next morning when I got up because a new world opened and I just wanted to move on in life."

Since his F1 exit, Steiner has moved into television punditry, is a regular guest on The Red Flags Podcast, and has taken ownership of the MotoGP and Moto3 team KTM Tech3.