Guenther Steiner give hints on why he left current F1 force Red Bull Racing.
Guenther Steiner is well known and loved for his role as the team principal of the Haas F1 team. However, before taking on the role with his current team, Steiner worked for the powerhouse Red Bull Racing. In February 2005, Steiner was invited to be a part of the Red Bull team as a technical operator.Steiner was in charge of managing 350 people and a budget of $200 million. Eventually as Red Bull found its ground, Steiner was moved to the NASCAR team project in North Carolina.
Speaking about his time at NASCAR, Steiner said via RacingNews365:
“We did it to add a lot of technology and engineers to the sport. A number of people recognized that after I left. You don’t have to get any credits. I think we did a lot of what is now normal in the NASCAR.”
However, in 2008 he decided that it was time to leave the team. According to the RBR Daily Twitter account, Guenther Steiner said:
“I fell out with them. (Laughs) We didn’t fall out. We disagreed on how to go forward. I had a plan, and they disagreed so we parted company. Simple as this.”
Guenther Steiner speaks about his experience with the NASCAR Red Bull team
Needless to say, Guenther Steiner’s NASCAR experience certainly helped him take up his future roles in Formula 1. Having a European team go to the US to do NASCAR was an opportunity in and of itself, which is why Steiner jumped at the opportunity when it came to him. Speaking via the Athletic, he said:
“It’s a life experience. I’m very thankful of having done it because it opens up your eyes to what is out there in the world. If you work in whatever sport and you think that is the maximum you can do, but then you come to something like this which is still in motorsport, but completely different — not better or worse, just different — that broadens your horizons
Steeiner credits the beginnings of the Haas F1 team to his NASCAR career which forced him to move to the United States. He then found Haas, which was an American team.”And then out of that came Haas F1, I would say. So if I wouldn’t have come to the States, Haas F1 would not exist, let’s put it this way. When you think back now about how many things happened after that is quite amazing,” he said.
