By Alan Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) – Haas boss Guenther Steiner has famously not watched the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ docu-series that made him a cult hero for a new wave of Formula One fans, but he has read every word of ‘Surviving to Drive’.
The ghost-written book, published in Britain on Thursday and with a foreword by Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali, records Steiner’s 2022 season in typically unfiltered fashion.
One particular profanity appears 351 times in the 280 pages, according to a reviewer who bothered to count, and Steiner has delivered it all in the accent of a man born in German-speaking northern Italy and now resident in North Carolina.
“I did the audio book so I have proof that I read it,” the 58-year-old told Reuters, while admitting his focus had been more on keeping the sound engineer happy than the actual contents.
‘Drive to Survive’, now filming its sixth season and credited with turbo-charging the sport’s popularity, transformed Steiner from relative paddock obscurity to show-stealing phenomenon.
T-shirts adorned with his face and familiar catchphrases have sold briskly, with the boss often ambushed by fans seeking selfies — to the occasional embarrassment of his teenage daughter.
A parody Twitter account @BanterSteiner has 184,000 followers.
HAPPY STEINER
“It still puts a smile on my face because it wasn’t by design. I didn’t try to do this. It just happened. If they feel happy, I’m happy for them,” said Steiner.
“If they like it, what I do, it means that I entertain them and they love it because they spend money to put my face on their chests. When I see it, it still amazes me.”
Steiner said the focus on smaller teams like U.S.-owned Haas, who finished eighth in 2022 and now have Dallas-based MoneyGram as title sponsor, was also of commercial benefit.
“A lot of sponsors say I actually do not want to be associated with the winner because then I’m always second,” he observed.
“Because I’m this character now (maybe) that helped to make the decision.”
The Italian first came into the Formula One paddock in 2001 when Austria’s late triple world champion Niki Lauda brought him to Ford-owned Jaguar from the world of rallying in a short-lived adventure.
He came back in 2005 when Red Bull bought the Jaguar team but then moved to NASCAR, returning to F1 when Haas debuted in 2016.
RARE EXAMPLE
The book is a rare example of an active F1 boss putting his thoughts into print, however forthright and uncomplimentary.
Ralf Schumacher, brother of seven times world champion Michael and uncle of Haas’s dropped former driver Mick, is unlikely to enjoy it.
The pages reveal the growing frustration with Mick’s crashes, costed at more than $2 million, and irritation at Ralf’s comments on German television.
“That was one of the things when we started this project, that was the aim; The honest speaking, speaking about what is happening and not just telling a nice story,” said Steiner.
“There is things in which maybe some people don’t like but so is life.
“I did my job and people liked what I did … the idea about the book (was) to follow up a little bit and also to explain to people in an entertaining way a year of what I’m doing,” he explained.
“They should see that it’s not all glory in a day of a team principal.”
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
