Formula 1 stalwart and cult figure Guenther Steiner has reflected on leaving Red Bull in 2008, describing his exit as “the best that happened in my life”.
Steiner joined the Milton Keynes-based squad upon its purchase of Jaguar Racing from Ford in 2005, at which Steiner also worked between 2001 and 2003.
Beginning as Technical Operations Director, Steiner was shuffled to its NASCAR operations in America, remaining there until 2008, a year before the F1 team took its first Grand Prix win.
Steiner was of course then part of the creation of the Haas F1 team, which he led from its debut in 2016 until 2023, when his contract with the team was not renewed.
Now part of the consortium that owns the Red Bull Tech3 MotoGP team as well as a successful TV pundit, Steiner told FanAmp about his time with Red Bull, and how, despite missing out on its successful era, the exit gave him opportunities he would not have been able to explore had it not happened.
“For me, it worked out perfectly,” he said.
“It became crowded, and for me, now looking back, that was my lucky moment when I left, because it opened, for me, the door to the States.
“I always wanted to live in the States when I was younger, but never could because you need a work visa, and it opened that avenue.
“Once I was here, now you cannot get rid of me anymore!”
Guenther Steiner: Red Bull exit ‘gave me the opportunity’ to start Haas
Steiner continued that he was able to grow his own business during the period between Red Bull and Haas, and integrating into America allowed him the chance to help set up the team that still competes in F1.
“I opened my own company, a composite company. Now we’ve got 300 people, which is pretty a successful company. Then it gave me the opportunity to start an F1 team.
“If I would have done the same in Europe, I wouldn’t have succeeded because I wouldn’t have found an investor. And if I would have tried out of Europe to find an American investor, I don’t think he would have done it with me because it’s too far away, it’s too far apart in the world.
“And I needed to learn the American culture, to find somebody to speak the same language, because if I speak European culture to an American businessman, he’s not going to do business with me. And for me, it was the best thing that happened in my life, to leave Red Bull.”
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