P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reacting to Guenther Steiner LEAVING Haas!

Episode Date: January 10, 2024

Guenther Steiner has left Haas with "immediate effect"! We wonder how Haas will fare without him and what's next for the great man. You can sign up to our Patreon here! You'll get access to exclusive episodes you won't hear anywhere else, every P1 episode ad-free, full driver interview videos, early access to tickets and more!Follow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTok. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome to an emergency P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We are here. We did not expect to be doing a podcast today, but we have had some Formula One news. Yes, we have forgotten what that feels like. And it is at the expense of Gunter Steiner, Tommy. The drive-to-survive Netflix sensation has left the Hass F-1 team with a media effect. It's, it's...

I mean, I was quite shocked. This came out of nowhere. Yeah, it's a big surprise. There were sort of rumours going around, but didn't really have any traction. It was just like a random comment that barely got any traction on Twitter or anything. And it was kind of like,

I don't know if I believe this or not. But yeah, like you say, out of nowhere, I think Formula One not long, kind of not long ago tweeted a graphic being like, here's all the team principles. Now everyone's, locked in for 2024, like we've got the whole grid, and now Gunther's gone. Gunther has gone. The statement that was put out by Hass, and this is a quote from Gene

Hass, said, moving forward as an organisation, it was clear we need to improve our on-track performances in appointing Ayo Kumatsu, probably just completely butchered that, sorry, as team principle, we fundamentally have engineering at the heart of our management. There was also about Gunter Steiner being basically removed from the role, effective immediately. Now that's a phrase, Tommy, that makes me feel uneasy. It makes me feel like things have gone down or people have been removed from said roles.

I don't know. Effective immediately is a very harsh, cutting statement, isn't it? It's not like a Gunter will leave at the end of the season. Thank you so much, Gunter, you know, it was just like, effective immediately, gone. Yeah, it's quite the shock, because Haas's technical director has also left, which was announced earlier today.

And so obviously the way it's been worded, the fact that they've kind of both gone at the same time, it does kind of feel like it's kind of, Gene Hasser's gone, right, we need to sort of this mess out. Let's start again. You're fired, you're fired, you're fired, you're fired. Obviously, we don't know how that's going to go down. Hopefully Drive Survivor in there filming the entire thing,

because that would be a good episode. And I bet they wish they were. But yeah, it's interesting to see that Huss of, in my opinion, finally made a call of, we need to sort this S out because their team's going absolutely nowhere. And we mentioned many times that, you know, during the season when they were, I think Hasse so many times we were kind of like,

why do they even exist at the moment? It was kind of very frustrating to watch them last year in particular. It certainly was, and if you're Gene Hass pumping in money into a team that's not going anywhere, and if anything, it's even worse when you show potential and then aren't able to deliver it at all when the points are delivered on a Sunday. Yeah, it feels weird, doesn't it? Because, of course, on Netflix, we've had many seasons of Gunter on the phone to Gene saying, you know, oh, we're going to fix this mess

and, you know, just wait, just you see. And we've now finally got the closing of the book of Jean Hasse actually giving Gunter the boot, which is upsetting. So I guess it opens up the question, what is next for Gunter Steiner? Now, look, I am not Gunter Steiner's manager. However, I feel like there are plenty of opportunities

for Gunter Steiner here. here. One, lead commentator for Sky Sports F1. Punditry 100%. No, league, he's replacing Crofty, Tommy. I want to see it. But no, if I'm being honest, yes, I think there's room for punditry. I don't know whether he actually would want to do that, though. His personality doesn't seem to lean towards being in front of a camera, that sort of stuff. That's my opinion. But he does have that opportunity. I think he can have a whole film just about him. I feel like he's got enough clout from Drive to Survive

that it could be something epic with Gunter as the main character. Well, why don't they just do our rival Netflix? Well, I say rival Netflix. Or it could just be on Netflix as like a spin-off where they just, it is literally the Gunther show and they just follow his next steps.

That would be quite interesting. Because now they could just document. Yeah. Gunther, get on the phone. Yeah, it's not Gene Hass on the end of the blower now. It's Matt and, Tommy. So yeah, I think for me, the thing that stood out was the fact that every broadcaster,

because when the whole Netflix thing kicked off, it was, of course, that first season, when Drive to Survive Now is definitely polarises Formula One fans, but I think hardcore Formula One fans, even when it first started, we all loved it because it was like, oh my word like this is a side to the sport that we've never seen before who is this gunther Steiner guy who'd of course been in formula one for a very long time and been team principal but was never being interviewed by the likes of sky sports or formula one or whatever and then suddenly he became the star of this show and he was always the one that was getting almost some people found maybe even too much sometimes that he was kind of being overused

and kind of they were using him all the time to like talk to him and stuff and he definitely became like front and center a lot more. So maybe that is the side. I think those broadcasters will be biting their hand off to get him as like a pundit or on, you know, because people will love to hear what he has to say. Maybe Dutch TV because I think they're allowed to swear on Dutch TV and they don't care. So he'd be a great one for that. Yeah, maybe that's where he needs to go.

But who knows? What else? Do you think he could, I mean, there's no other slots in Formula One to be a team principal. And to be honest, with his track record, as much as he might be a great team principal, we don't really get to see that because he was the forefront of a team that was always struggling in terms of staying in Formula One trying to score points. Hasse were very much on the back foot for most of his time there. Where else could he go? Does he go to another motorsport series?

Does he write another book? What does he do? Yeah, you do wonder because once you've kind of hit that team principal height, you know, if you watch old Formula One footage, I think the one that springs to mind, which people would find very surprising, is that he actually used to work for Red Bull. And if you watch the footage from the infamous race in 2005 in USA, he was there in that working for Red Bull. and you kind of saw him there and it's really weird seeing Gutthesstainer and Red Bull Air Force but with a lot of these people

including Kamatsu who's the trackside engineer that's moved his way up these people work in Formula One for years and years and years and they build their way up McLaren is another great example but their team principal

they build their way up to the top but then what's next when you do get dropped? Fundatory FAA president Gunther Steinman That. Oh my God.

That would be unbelievable. You know the first thing he would pass is just being able to swear. Getting rid of the bleeps on team radio. That would be 100% the first thing he would do. Unsaid to team radio is his first thing. Speaking of Kamatsu, so he's been in Formula One since I think 2003. He's worked with BAR, with Renault with Lotus, with Hass, and now, of course, is the team principal. I guess it then makes us wonder.

and it's not a question we're going to be able to probably answer right now is whether it's good or bad news for Hass. You have to say on the, if you're Gene Hass, you just look at the results and you go, well, Hass were actually doing better in the earlier years of when they joined Formula One rather than now. So it's not like they're on any kind of trajectory.

So you do wonder whether there is a need to change. I personally quite liked Gunter as, as a team principal, but then again, we aren't employees. So we don't know what he's like behind closed doors. I think he was quite a stern man from what we've seen in Netflix, and he can be incredibly cutting with wanting results and whatnot. But I guess, you know, it's run its course. I think I can understand why they've made that decision.

Nothing has changed. They're not on the right path at the moment. Let's change at the top. Other teams have had much more of a revolving door. when it comes to team principles than Hasse have had. And I think a lot of people are upset just purely because we like Guntur as a personality. Yeah, in my opinion, I think it is the right move for Hasse. I think it's a tough one because a lot of people would be like,

oh, that that sucks because you could argue that Gunther Steiner is probably one of the only redeeming sort of like, well, maybe even the only point of interest of Hasse because, you know, they've not to be savage, but. They've not set the world alike recently. They've not got the most inspiring driver lineup or anything like that. And they've just been kind of languishing near the back and not improving, which is why we said so many times during the podcast, like why they even hear at the moment, like where's their future going?

So I think it is the right choice that they needed to make a change. Obviously, I don't think it's all on Gunther, and this is something that happens with maybe someone like Ferrari, where they've got that like football mentality of kind of, oh, it's all the team principal fault, and it keeps happening and keeps happening. Whereas Gunther's always been there. So if there is someone new that steps up,

we don't know if Kamatsi is going to be staying. It might be a placeholder for now. It might be a placeholder, but they're saying obviously he's at the moment. And if he does take them forward, then we know that, you know, that was what was needed. But if we still have these problems,

then we know that it is just something more deeply rooted in house because this is a team that we've gone about the results. But they've had, while it's hilarious for Drive to Survive and makes for great content, they did brilliant that year. I think it was where they finished fifth in the constructors, I want to say 2018. And then since then,

they've been, you know, at the back, they've had controversies. The rich energy thing was embarrassing. the Mazapin thing was embarrassing. This is a team that just keeps kind of embarrassing themselves, basically. And now they've gone back and you thought, oh, after 2021, when they were easily last and we were making jokes that they might as well be a Formula 2 car a lot of the time with that car, you thought they're on their way up now and they're still going to finish way down.

So, yeah, it's just daft really. It is staffed. It's funny, I read a message on Twitter applying to one of my tweets saying that Netflix might actually hire him to narrate Drive to Survive next year. That would, that would, or this year coming up, that would be something, wouldn't it?

Can you imagine? You do wonder if, because what are we in, so we start of January, there's got to be some kind of episode about it. Oh, there has to be a whole special. Yeah, exactly. They're going to finalize a lot of things, but they're going to have to,

cover it and I do wonder if there's been a Gunther Steiner episode that the editors that drive to survive now have to potentially even scrap or go oh no we need to completely change this now. Oh you best believe there's an episode where they've gone to his house and they've been making pancakes or something and you've got Gunter in an apron and you know oh looking forward to this year coming up and then boom the episode is going to be called Goodbye Gunter. I can just I can feel it right now. A little bit of alliteration. Love that. Right. Okay.

That pretty much sums up our chat about Gunther going, doesn't it? We're using a lot of G words at the moment. Is there anything else that you want to highlight Tommy from this? No, I think it's just a surprising thing, but my opinion is the right thing, even though we love Gunther for being that personality. And obviously, it'd be great to see what he does it in the future. but I'm just glad we've got a bit of news to sink our teeth into finally and waffle about.

Yeah, the waffle is back in 2024, our first bit of F1 news. Sad to see Gunther go. Let us know, of course, on social media on the P1 channels, what you think about Gunter leaving, because I've already seen the initial reaction, and it is widespread sadness to see him leave Formula One. But we'll have to see, because if Haskin move forward, the fans of that team.

Not that there's huge amount of them. I feel like everyone that we met in America that had Hass merch on were like, oh actually it was just in the sale. Yeah, and also you see it at circuits, don't you wear? People are wearing Haas stuff, but they have banners that are like,

Gunther marry me, they support Haas because of Gunther, which is such a weird concept. It's the first team where people support a team principle rather than a driver. Yeah, it just shows the kind of level that he had with with the audience and stuff but yeah it'd be interesting to see

what next for Hass now and whether they will rocket up the championship order to ninth next year and the thing is as well like we can't judge Kamatsu if he isn't for a few years we can't judge him straight away similar to Vasura at Ferrari

you know there is he can't it doesn't just walk in the door and he's like right particularly now like the car lords make him that part I want you actually on this thing Yeah, the car's done. It's developed. Yeah, it's done. And we know HASS don't have any budget to do anything more than one development a year. So it's going to take a while for Kumatsu to actually make any kind of impact with his engineering expertise.

But either way, thank you everybody for watching and listening to this first bit of Formula One News in 2024. Lots more to come. You best believe it. Tommy, you've already given me your final thoughts. So just start waving and we'll see you next time. Bye. Bye, Gunther. Goodbye, Gunther.

Gunther. Is it Gunther or Gunther? Gunter? I think it's Gunter, isn't it? You started calling him Gunther all of a sudden. Gunther? Sorry. Goenter. Bye.

Bye. P1 is a stack production and part of the ACAST's creator network.