Why Haas banned Guenther Steiner from FIA steward meetings

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner revealed that he reached the stage of being banned by his team from attending meetings with the FIA stewards.

Steiner – with the help of Netflix’s hit F1 docuseries Drive to Survive – became one of the most popular team bosses and F1 personalities in general. His tendency to deliver an entertaining outburst, quite often with an F-bomb involved, proved a hit, though it did get him banned from the stewards room, by his own team.

Haas banned Guenther Steiner from FIA steward meetings

While appearing on the post-Brazilian Grand Prix edition of the Red Flags podcast, Steiner queried why McLaren had not gone to the stewards to challenge Oscar Piastri’s 10-second time penalty, issued following a collision with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.

The contact at Turn 1 shunted Antonelli into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, eliminating Leclerc from the race.

Steiner was asked how he would have reacted had it been Kevin Magnussen – a Haas driver from 2017-2020 and 2022-24 – who was hit with the penalty which Piastri was.

At that point, Steiner revealed that his reactions got him banned from attending the FIA stewards’ meetings by his own Haas team.

“At the end of the race, I mean, I would have gone to the stewards,” he said.

“At some stage, the team didn’t let me go to the stewards anymore. They said, ‘Guenther, you’re not allowed to go’, because I got penalties, and I had to pay fines, and sooner or later, they all told me, ‘Your opinion doesn’t help, and how you speak with the people.’

“But then if they are doing something which I think it’s wrong, I need to tell them. And they are just like, ‘No, we think we are right.’ And if you get all this bollocks, as you normally get there, it’s like… It’s not an easy job. I would never want to be a steward, especially working for free.”

Formula 1 governance explained

👉 FIA explained: What does it stand for and how does it govern F1?

👉 Who owns F1? All you need to know about Liberty Media and how F1 has changed since

Steiner added: “Obviously, I overdid it sometimes, which doesn’t help.

“But then, stating the facts, it shows also that you know what you’re doing. You show this is wrong. You give your point of view. Will you win it, you don’t know, but you always have to try. That’s my opinion.”

Steiner served as Haas team principal until the end of 2023. He was replaced by Ayao Komatsu ahead of the 2024 campaign.

Read next: Ferrari president accused of ‘bad leadership’ after attack on Hamilton and Leclerc