Guenther Steiner will celebrate his 60th birthday on Monday. For the former Haas chief, who has spent over half of his life working in motorsport, the celebrations with his family will be fairly reserved in his Italian hometown of Merano before he embarks on a tour that sounds even more hectic than the Formula One schedule.
Across the next three months, Steiner will deliver 42 shows across the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man ticking off venues like Yeovil, Harrogate and Plymouth.
To get a measure of his appeal, it’s worth noting that he did 25 shows in the UK towards the back end of last year, with all of them selling out.
Of course, it is no substitute to the thrill of working in F1 – Steiner was ditched by Haas in December 2023 after 10 years in charge – but there is joy nonetheless.
Such is his superstar status, propelled largely by his starring role in Netflix’s Drive to Survive, that he recalls getting taken aback on an October day in Manchester when a packed house greeted him for both his morning and afternoon shows.
‘I love telling my stories even though we always run out of time. The crowd has everyone from young people to very senior people and I enjoy seeing the cultural differences, especially between the north and south of England,’ Steiner tells Mail Sport.
Guenther Steiner was the Team Principal of Haas Formula One Team from 2014 to 2023
Steiner pictured in 2022 alongside drivers Mick Schumacher (left) and Nikita Mazepin (right)
Steiner is a hugely popular figure among F1 fans, propelled by his major role in Drive to Survive
‘The people up north are more noisier and outspoken like me. More to the bone as they say. And it’s a little bit more reserved down south but it’s nice to see it all. I lived in England for 10 years so I’d hear about the differences but when you do these shows, you feel it and you understand it,’ he adds.
Steiner was buying ham in a supermarket in Merano when Gene Haas called him to say it was time to move on. It was the period between Christmas and New Year yet within days, he was inundated with offers as broadcasters tried to sign him up for the season. Little surprise there.
That night, he lay in bed thinking deeply about the story of Haas from his idea of setting up the team to keeping them afloat, despite never achieving a podium finish.
It formed the basis of his book ‘Unfiltered’ within which his friend Toto Wolff wrote in the foreword about Steiner: ‘It was like he read a management textbook, then decided to do the opposite in almost every situation.’
But it was a style that captured the imagination and Steiner admits there is no ruling out that he will return to the paddock as part of a team one day. The desire remains.
‘I would consider going back to F1 but only if it’s a project that I like as a project and not just to do a job,’ Steiner admits. ‘I’ve already done that – working 14 hours a day, seven days a week and 12 months a year and I think I did a bloody good job of that.
‘The nicest thing [about life now] is that I can go away on a Sunday night without a problem. If I’m going back to run a team, I want to do it my way and be fighting for podiums and championships. Right now, there is nothing but in F1 things can change so quickly,’ he adds.
Steiner surprisingly doesn’t swear once during our interview though he admits that nothing has changed in that regard – only that he has improved in controlling himself since becoming a pundit. ‘When I’ve got a mic in my hand, it’s like a switch now and the F word disappears,’ he jokes.
But he is critical about the new FIA regulations where drivers are fined for swearing.
Haas driver Oliver Bearman (left) pictured shaking hands with Steiner in Melbourne last month
Steiner, who will celebrate his 60th birthday on Monday, was let go by Haas in December 2023
He was in a supermarket when Gene Haas (pictured) called him to say it was time to move on
‘It’s ludicrous. A sport without emotion isn’t a sport,’ Steiner says. ‘As long as you don’t hurt anyone, it’s fine and it should have been dealt with by just telling the drivers ‘hey guys, tone it down a notch’ instead of making such a big deal out of it.’
His current duties see him cover half of the 24 races with German broadcaster RTL, with certain weekends during his tour kept free for race weekends and he stresses there is no thought about calming down just yet.
Last year, he began a role as an ambassador for the Miami Grand Prix and he speaks about how much he’d love to see the sport go to Africa within the next decade. There is a longing too for more sprint races to make the sport even more exciting. There’s little question about his passion for racing and it comes as little surprise that the producers of Drive to Survive found a way to get him on briefly in the latest season even though social media is awash with fans saying how much his presence is missed.
‘I think it’s quite entertaining what’s happened to my character. I’m happy to laugh at myself and give people enjoyment because I’ve never taken myself too seriously,’ Steiner says. ‘A sport can’t have anything better than a young audience because it means the future is safe and a lot of that is down to Drive to Survive,’ he insists.
For now, that future doesn’t include him but after spending time in his company, you get the sense that as he enters his 60s, the unfiltered Guenther Steiner is ready and raring to write a few more chapters.
Guenther Steiner will visit 42 venues across the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man between April 23 and July 20 for Unfiltered Live. Tickets are available for the shows at Fane.co.uk.