‘F*cking hell can you imagine?’ – Guenther Steiner responds to Christian Horner Red Bull replacement joke

Michelle Foster
Guenther Steiner taking selfies with fans

Guenther Steiner remains popular with F1 fans

Should Red Bull opt to replace Christian Horner as team principal, they shouldn’t bother knocking on Guenther Steiner’s door with the former Red Bull man laughing off the mere suggestion.

Steiner, who worked for Red Bull between 2005 and 2008, lost his job as Haas team boss at the end of last season when his contract was not renewed after yet another disappointing campaign for the backmarker team.

‘Do I believe I could do it? Yes’

Since then he’s taken a job behind the mic with RTL, a seven-race deal, while also having his say on the state of Formula 1 by writing columns.

For now, that’s enough for the 58-year-old.

“You just go away for four days and then go back home,” he told the Telegraph. “F***ing hell! Easy!”

But that doesn’t mean one day he won’t return to a team principal role, revealing he still speaks with several people in the paddock.

“I’m very open-minded,” he said. “I said that in the beginning. I just see what is out there.

“You know, I speak with a lot of people, I still have a lot of friends. Obviously, I’m not involved operationally, but just people call me up and have a chat and things like this.

“But I’m in no hurry. I’m not going out to shop myself around. But if people ask, and then you look at it and say yes or no and talk with them.”

So how about the Red Bull role should the team opt to drop Horner?

“Haha, I don’t think so,” Steiner responded. “F***ing hell, can you imagine?”

On a serious note, he added: “It’s easy to say: ‘Yeah, I could do it.’ But that is yet to be proven. Do I believe I could do it? Yes. But it’s a very competitive environment.”

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But while Steiner didn’t have much success on the track, he did off it as one of the stars of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series with his no-nonsense attitude and sweary rants.

He admits he’s a person you either like, or you don’t. And he’s okay with it either way.

“I’m not a person that, how do you say it, everybody likes,” he said. “Which I’m OK about. You can’t be liked by everybody. It’s either-or with me. But there is obviously a crowd out there that does like my presence…”

Steiner is also working with CBS to develop a ‘single-camera workplace comedy’ show but cracking Hollywood is not the ultimate goal.

“Maybe I should ask Arnold [Schwarzenegger] if we can do something together? We do have a similar accent, although I always say his is slightly worse,” he said with a laugh.

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