Haas’ Guenther Steiner: ‘Teammates shouldn’t be friends. They need to compete’

The breakout star of Netflix’s Drive to Survive on winning more, swearing less and why he won’t watch himself until he retires

COMPETITION FIRST: Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner. Pic: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

“The day I feel the backpack is getting too big or the donkey is getting too old and cannot carry it any more, the donkey will be stopping,” Guenther Steiner says with typical amusement as he reflects on the stress bearing down on him as one of the most famous faces in Formula One and as the principal of the Haas F1 team. 

Steiner’s ever-expanding celebrity is rooted in the way he has lit up Netflix’s Drive to Survive series with his idiosyncratic wit, ceaseless swearing and dramatic pronouncements in the paddock since 2019.