Foul-mouthed Netflix star fired by Haas
GUENTHER STEINER, a breakout star of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, yesterday lost his job as team principal of Formula One team, Haas. The Italian-American engineer made his name as the foulmouthed boss of the US-owned team, winning a fan base that had been largely unaware of him as a long-serving backwoodsman executive at Jaguar and Red Bull. His guttural Germanic-sounding expletives — he was born on the Austrian border — had groupies besieging him at race tracks and airports around the world for autographs and selfies. But, aged 58, after a season that saw Haas finish last in the constructors’ championship, he makes way for Ayao Komatsu, the team’s Japanese 47-year-old director of engineering. It brings to an end a reign of 10 years. Mail Sport understands Steiner rowed with owner Gene Haas and that they pretty much mutually decided his time was up. Steiner demanded more investment, though Haas might have pointed out that he wasn’t getting much return on his £105million budget-cap restrained outlay. Through drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen Haas amassed a mere 12 points. If they spent the full £105m quota, that equates to £87,500 per point. Red Bull, the champions, scored 860 at £1,221 per point. ‘It was a case of I need this investment and Gene saying “No”,’ an F1 insider said. ‘This was an instance of “F*** you”. And of “F*** you” in return.’ Haas said: ‘I’d like to thank Guenther for all his hard work and I wish him well. We need to improve our on-track performances. In appointing Ayao Komatsu we have engineering at the heart of our management.’