"It's a big loss to the sport": Damon Hill reacts to Guenther Steiner's departure from Haas

Former F1 driver turned presenter Damon Hill feels ex-Haas team principal Guenther Steiner brought quite a lot to the sport, and his departure will be a big loss. Steiner was removed from the team with immediate effect on Wednesday, January 10t.

Speaking about Steiner on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Hill initially stated how the former was a celebrity in F1, especially after his persona was revealed in Netflix's Drive to Survive.

Although Hill does not know the real reason behind Steiner's departure, he feels it is a big loss to the sport.

"Guenther became a bit of a celebrity thanks to the famous Netflix series and the behind-the-scenes filming of him. He's absolutely, as you said, a kind of huge character. Very decisive, very confident, and very sure of what he is saying and stuff. Maybe this is part of the mix; you know, he wants to win. I don't know what the real reason is for the departure, but I mean, it's a big loss, I think, to the sport," Hill said.

Hill went on to add that although fans liked Steiner for his angry yet attractive personality, he was not able to meet Gene Haas' expectations.

"Fans liked him; he attracted people; he was controversial; he was outspoken. Maybe he didn't get the results that Gene Haas wanted," Hill added.

---

Guenther Steiner on why Haas was unable to positively develop its car in 2023

Haas' development cycle in the 2023 F1 season was horrendous as the team did not improve in performance throughout the season.

Speaking to The Race, Guenther Steiner claimed that the reason behind Haas' stagnant development was not because of the team's incompetence or financial issues, but rather because it was simply unable to find any performance.

“We got hit pretty badly with not making progress in development,” Steiner said. “We put all the effort in; there was no limitation on effort, and we had the budget to do upgrades. Everybody thinks we don't do upgrades because we don't have the money, but we didn't find any performance; that was the biggest thing,” Steiner stated.

Another major blunder from the team was that it realized the stagnation in performance a little too late. In his final days as team principal, Steiner reportedly admitted that the engineers needed to improve the wind tunnel tests.

“And the other thing was that when we realised, it was a little bit late, and we should have caught that earlier. We just need to get better in the wind tunnel; otherwise, the team is not too bad. It could always be better, but it’s just that we didn’t find anything,” he added.

Haas finished last in the 2023 F1 constructors' championship, scoring only 12 points.