Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner opens up on his most emotional moment in F1

Former Haas team boss Guenther Steiner recently talked about when he felt the most emotional during his time in F1. He picked Kevin Magnussen's Brazilian GP pole position in 2022 as his most emotional moment.

Back in 2022, the Brazilian GP's qualifying session was quite chaotic due to heavy rainfall. The Danish driver managed to enter the Q3 session with other top drivers. After Kevin Magnussen managed to place a fast lap and took the provisional pole, the weather around the Interlagos circuit changed drastically and it started to rain heavily.

Due to this, none of the top drivers like Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, etc., were able to clock their fast laps. Though they changed to intermediates and tried to go fast, it was nowhere near Kevin Magnussen's time, which was set with much faster slick tires. This resulted in the Haas driver taking his first pole position in F1 for the Brazilian GP in 2022.

Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast in 2024, Guenther Steiner was asked whether he ever got emotional during his tenure with Haas in F1. The Italian recalled that the only time he got emotional was when Kevin Magnussen took pole position for his team in Brazil. Later, Steiner humorously pointed out that despite being emotional, he did not shed a tear in the moment.

"I think I was pretty emotional when Kevin had pole position in Brazil. That was something...a pole position in F1 is something, you know, that was pretty emotional. But I didn't...by the way, I didn't cry," Steiner said (06:36).

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Guenther Steiner admits that he got clarity and peace after leaving Haas

Guenther Steiner admitted that he was feeling great after leaving Haas at the end of 2023. After the 2023 F1 season ended, Haas announced that Steiner would be parting ways from the team as they entered the new season with a different vision and approach.

In his exclusive column on F1.com in March 2024, the Italian wrote how he switched off from the sport and even made a bold statement that he stayed at Haas for far too long. He concluded that he got a lot of clarity after stepping away from the sport.

"Life has been good since I left Haas ahead of this season. 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," Steiner wrote.

He added:

"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."

Guenther Steiner has been working with Haas ever since the team was created in 2014. Before that, the Italian worked with teams like Jaguar, and Red Bull.