Steiner's Shocking Departure 'Big Loss' For F1 Says World Champion Damon Hill

Thursday, 11 January 2024 at 15:00

Formula One world Champion Damon Hill reacted to Guenther Steiner's departure from Haas saying it is a great loss for the sport of F1.

Yesterday, Haas officially announced Guenther Steiner would be replaced as team principal by Ayao Komatsu and would be departing the team with immediate effect.

This news took everybody by surprise as the former team principal has been with the American team ever since its inception and has by now sort of become the face of the team as well. Damon Hill suggested it was the Netflix series that made Steiner so popular as he told Sky Sports:

"Guenther became a bit of a celebrity thanks to the Netflix series. He is absolutely a huge character, very decisive, very confident, and very sure of what he's saying."

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Regardless of what made him so popular, people loved the Haas team principal and it is a shame that he is completely leaving the team. Hill believes it is a "big loss" for the sport.

"I don't know what the real reason is for the departure, but it's a big loss, I think, to the sport. Fans liked him, he attracted people, he was controversial, he was outspoken. Maybe didn't get the results that Gene Haas wanted."

What many don't know is that the Haas team most probably wouldn't exist without Steiner. He was the one who met Gene Haas during his time in NASCAR and persuaded the American to enter F1.

Moreover, he then recruited the core staff and developed key partnerships with Dallara and Ferrari, which have supplied the team with car components and power units until today.

"Don't forget Guenther was actually one of the masterminds of putting the whole thing together in the first place with Gene as the investor he got on board. You actually could say it was his team, but he didn't own it."

Hill suggested that the problem with the Italian might have been how his attention wasn't 100% on the team. He recently wrote his own book and was about to have his own TV series.

"He was talking about his TV series that they are planning and stuff, and maybe that was too much for some people because, as a team principal, your primary job and your focus has to be on what you do."

On the one hand, he left Haas with immediate effect and won't be part of the team anymore. On the other hand, Steiner has a lot of knowledge and experience that could be useful to the remaining nine teams, so there is still a chance we might see him in F1 again.