Drive to Survive legend teases F1 RETURN

Drive to Survive star Guenther Steiner has been reflecting on his time in Formula 1 as team principal of Haas over the winter - and hinted that he'll be back in the paddock.

An anchor of the team's operation for nearly a decade, his contract was not renewed after the 2024 season following a last placed finish in the constructors' championship.

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The American squad brought in former track engineering director Ayao Komatsu as his replacement, while Steiner returned to the paddock in Bahrain as a TV pundit.

Steiner previously stated that his view on the future for the team did not match that of Haas and that he was unwilling to invest in the team after the new regulations came into effect.

Steiner: I stayed at Haas 'too long'

But speaking on his first column for the official F1 website, the Italian conceded that he had stayed at the team for ‘too long.’

“Life has been good since I left Haas ahead of this season,” he wrote.

“These last few weeks are the first time I’ve switched off from F1 for around a decade. This time has been good for me. The longer time goes on, the more I can see that I stayed at Haas too long.

“When you step away, you get clarity – and you can see what you need to do. While you’re there, you’re in denial, you think you can do it but you cannot.”

Steiner also explained that he was becoming tired of fighting for the smaller points finishes and not being in contention for podiums, and also hinted that he would like to return to F1 for the ‘right project.’

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“When I was there, with what we had, you could still fight for being seventh, eighth or ninth – but you couldn’t fight for podiums without the same weapons as the other guys,” he said.

“Doing that in the long-term is not what I want to do in life. I don’t want to be seventh again. I’ve done that. I want to be able to fight, to battle at the front.

“When Toto Wolff started with Mercedes, the team at the time was not at the top. Yes, they had the advantage of the engine at the beginning, but he set everything up right to be successful in the mid-term – and they won eight constructors’ championships.

“It’s the same thing with Red Bull. How long did it take for them to get there? Every year, they kept on getting better. You need that patience and long-term planning.

“I would come back to F1 in the future, but it needs to be the right project, done right.”

READ MORE: Who is Guenther Steiner? Former F1 team boss and Drive to Survive legend

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