Guenther Steiner

Guenther Steiner is an Italian-American motorsport engineer and the former Team Principal of the Haas Formula One Team.

Guenther Steiner was born on April 7, 1965, in Merano, South Tyrol, Italy - close to Austrian Borders. Being born in South Tyrol, Steiner speaks both Italian and German, along with English. He currently lives in Mooresville, North Carolina, with his daughter and wife, Gertraud.

Steiner started his engineering degree; however, he left without completing it to work as a mechanic in the World Rally Championship for Mazda Rally Team Europe in the years 1986, 1987, and 1988.

In 1997, Steiner managed Prodrive's Allstar Rally team. The team went on to win the European Rally Championship with Krzysztof Hołowczyc. In 1998, Steiner was recruited as a project manager to M-Sport, and in 2000, he was promoted to Director of Engineering.

He worked under the Ford Rally team alongside drivers like Carlos Sainz Sr., securing two consecutive second places in the 2000 and 2001 seasons. In 2001, Ford’s official Formula One full-works team, Jaguar Racing, appointed Guenther Steiner as the new team principal.

After a season that did not meet expectations, in December 2002, Steiner was replaced by David Pirchforth. However, in 2004, after Red Bull purchased Jaguar Racing, Steiner was invited to rejoin the newly formed team.

He was confirmed as technical operations director on January 13, 2005. After leading the Red Bull team alongside Christian Horner to improved results in 2005, Steiner was approached by Dietrich Mateschitz to help establish a NASCAR team in the United States.

Steiner moved to the United States, and even though his involvement in NASCAR was relatively short-lived, he met Gene Haas of Stewart-Haas Racing. Steiner managed to convince Gene Haas to enter Formula One as a private team.

Guenther Steiner recruited the core staff and developed the key partnerships with Dallara and Ferrari, and on April 14, 2014, he was appointed as a Team Principal of the emerging Haas F1 Team.

Haas joined Formula One in season 2016, and Guenther Steiner has remained the team principal of the team ever since. The best achievement of the team so far has come in the 2018 season when the Haas F1 Team ranked fifth in the World Constructors' Championship.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Steiner was surprisingly replaced by Ayao Komatsu as team principal, ending his stay with Haas in Formula One.