Guenther Steiner, Haas F1 Team Principal, says his team is moving in the “right direction”. Photo: Martin Kip/AFP.
Of all the team leaders currently working in Formula 1, only Gunther Steiner was able to turn the conversation about Miami and the current growing popularity of Formula 1 in the USA into a cocaine boom rhapsody. The 80s and drug smuggling in motorsport.
"Damn it! It must have been good in Miami back then!" exclaims the Italian, in his characteristic German style, as we look forward to this weekend's Grand Prix in the Sunshine State, “at home.” sort of a race for Steiner's Haas F1 team from North Carolina.
"Have you seen the Netflix series Bad Sport?" he is asking. “One of the episodes was about an IndyCar driver in the 1980s [Randy Lanier] who financed his trip with drug smuggling in Miami.”
Stuart Morrison, a long time stand-up PR man who has been minding his own business so far, looks up from his laptop, realizing that the conversation may have taken a turn. "We don't interfere with any of this" he exclaims, as if worried that his team leader might make it look like Haas has a new drug-fighting sponsor.
Too late. Steiner is on a roll. “Then there were those guys who raced speedboats [Sal Magluta and Willie Falcon, the main characters in another Netflix documentary called Cocaine Cowboys: Kings of Miami]. And then there was this guy from Miami who bought a submarine in Russia for Pablo Escobar [Ludwig Feinberg]… Those were crazy times"
Real Miami Police? "Yeah, I mean, I talk to people who lived in Miami in the 1980s and knew everything. The police knew. They were paid off. Everyone was having a good time. Crazy. Until Reagan turned the screw. Yeah, Nancy Reagan messed it up, you know? Other than that, it was a hell of a good time.”
Steiner laughs. One of F1's most iconic characters and unlikely star of the Netflix series F1: Drive to Survive. It's fair to say that Steiner's public profile as a team leader is second only to Toto Wolff and Christian Horner.
Nobody is more surprised than him. We are sitting in the offices of Penguin Random House in Vauxhall. Steiner is busy promoting his new book Survive to Drive. For two days he was everywhere, on radio, on TV, signing copies at the Waterstones Piccadilly.
'I didn't wake up one morning and think I was writing a book'
" They approached me from Drive to Survive" he talks about how the book came about. “I didn’t wake up one morning thinking, ‘I’m writing a book. It's just another crazy experience.
They seem to be attracted to Steiner. Or they involve Steiner. Claimed to be a diary of the 2022 Haas season in which they finished eighth (out of 10 teams), his book also covers his motorsports career, moving from rallying to F1 (Jaguar and Red Bull), American motorsport and eventually Finally, back to Formula 1. back with Haas.
There are stories of him getting lost in the sandstorms in Libya on the Dakar Rally and haggling with locals with AK47s, or of being arrested in Monaco for racing a local kid on a scooter (Morrison had to come and rescue him). from the police station). The word F is widely used throughout and has become his trademark in Drive to Survive.
In fact, Steiner grew up in Merano, an alpine town in the Italian region of South Tyrol, a million miles from Formula One. As a child, he played hockey. "I was a goalkeeper" He says. "I started pretty early, but I also stopped pretty early because I had a fight with the coach. Nothing new!" The son of a butcher, Steiner could have followed his father into the family business, but eventually ran away with the motorsport circus.
"If I buy a piece of meat, I know I' I look," he talks about his skills as a butcher these days. "But I couldn't skin a cow"
Could he butcher a Formula 1 driver? "Haha. Perhaps."
Steiner did a bit of that in the final season of Drive to Survive; his treatment of Mick Schumacher drew criticism in some circles for being overly harsh. He did not repent. “Our relationship was good,” he insists. "It wasn't good, but it wasn't bad either. I think a lot of the criticism was because he didn't get the kind of success that [fans] wanted from him. They needed someone to blame. And that was me, you know? But I'm here to drive the Haas F1. I'm not here to manage Mick Schumacher. I must always do what is best for the team."
'The Netflix show created a monster…'
Team Principal Haas has become something of a comedic character in F1. He gladly plays along with it. On the road to survival. In his book. He's crazy, talkative, crazy with a goatee and a funny accent. He is very popular with fans who stumble at airports to get his autograph or wear 'Top Gunth' T-shirts with the face of Tom Cruise.
As F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali jokes in the preface to his book, “[Netflix's] show has created a monster that seems to have enchanted half the world.” The other half may not find him charming, but he has nothing to apologize for. F1 needs characters and he is definitely one of them.
But he has a serious side too. He desperately wants Haas to get into the net. "We are going in the right direction, moving up" He says. “Now there is no excuse for anyone, because now everyone has the same budget. Aston Martin has shown what is possible.
Our time is almost up. We'll talk a little bit about F1's phenomenal growth in the States, whether the country can host a fourth race. According to Steiner, this is most likely possible in New York, although the sport should “stabilise”. first in America before expanding further. He says he's looking forward to this weekend.
If only they could bring vice back to Miami? Steiner laughs. "It wasn't just in Miami" he says, returning to his previous topic. "Who was the driver of the British Touring Car? Vic Lee? He funded his cocaine smuggling races using gas cylinders.” Morrison announces interview time.
Recent Comments