Guenther Steiner has been enjoying his time, being relieved from his team principal duties at Haas in 2024. The American-Italian has also been reflecting on his time at the Kannapolis-based team. When he appeared on the Formula for Success podcast, Eddie Jordan put forth an interesting what-if scenario of being a Mercedes team boss. On this, Steiner gave his perspective on how his style of leadership would have been a mismatch for the Silver Arrows.
He stated, “I think behaving like I behaved, it wouldn’t have damaged their brand but they wouldn’t have allowed that. I don’t behave badly, I have just got my own style.”
Steiner mentioned how the big teams have a more “corporate” style structure. Meanwhile, at smaller teams like Haas, team principals have more “freedom”. However, it also comes at the cost of having fewer resources and people relative to the top teams like Mercedes.
The 58-year-old further added, “The style I run Haas, I guess wouldn’t have worked at Mercedes.” Steiner knows how Mercedes has a complex ownership shareholding structure as well.
One-third of the team is owned by team boss Toto Wolff. Meanwhile, the other two-thirds is split between the parent company Daimler AG, and its principal partner Ineos.
Thus, it makes managing the stakeholder dynamics for the team principal all the more difficult. Steiner understands this complexity and contrast between Haas and Mercedes, which is why he is hesitant to lead the latter.
Steiner then also mentioned how Red Bull has still fostered an easy-going structure despite having corporate ownership. Having worked with the Austrian team, the 58-year-old knows a thing or two about the current constructors’ champion team’s functioning.
Guenther Steiner knows how Red Bull has operated its team smoothly
In the team’s initial days, Guenther Steiner was a key foundational member at Red Bull Racing. Part of the Milton Keynes outfit’s technical structure, the American-Italian engineer helped set the culture and team structure dynamics alongside Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.
He highlighted on the podcast how the team’s late owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, set the precedent correctly for the leadership of the Red Bull F1 team. While the drinks company brand owned the team, Steiner cited how the side’s corporate structure has been the easiest among the top outfits.
However, he clarified that it wasn’t that Mercedes has a bad structure relative to Red Bull. The former Haas boss was just pointing out the contrast between the two.
