Guenther Steiner Gave Two Contradictory Opinions on Esteban Ocon in 2024

Esteban Ocon (L) and Guenther Steiner (R) |

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has become a prominent voice in the paddock after his exit from the sport at the end of the 2023 season. That said, when it comes to his own ex-employers, the Italian-American has failed to deliver consistent remarks.

When speaking about the line-up change at the Kannapolis-based team last year, the 59-year-old had put the likes of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon in strong contention to replace the outgoing Nico Hulkenberg on the Red Flags podcast.

However, just months later, Steiner had seemingly changed his stance on Ocon. The #31 driver, who had signed on with Haas for 2025 and beyond, wasn’t a signing that Steiner was particularly pleased with.

He explained in a chat with Oxford Union, “Esteban Ocon, I know him, I would say he’s a good driver, you know, I don’t think he’s a world champion material. I don’t think I would have taken him; I would have tried to keep Hulkenberg.

Steiner had cited Ocon’s history of not getting along with his teammates as the motivating factor to snub the Frenchman. And like Ocon, Steiner’s remarks about Haas’ other signing — Oliver Bearman — have not been consistent either.

Is Steiner happy with Bearman’s signing?

At the start of 2024, Bearman turned quite a few heads in the paddock with his late-notice debut for Ferrari at the Saudi Arabian GP. The Briton finished P7 for the Scuderia, ahead of the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

When quizzed whether this would make the 19-year-old a worthy candidate for a race seat with Haas, Steiner had objected by saying that it was too early to know. Moreover, he felt that Bearman was still just a “50-50” prospect.

Now, however, the American-Italian engineer has claimed that he was quite confident that had he been the boss at Haas, he would have put the Briton in that second race seat come what may. “Based on his performance in Jeddah, after what I saw from him, I’d put him in a race seat,” he said.

Post Edited By: Vidit Dhawan
Esteban Ocon Guenther Steiner Haas Oliver Bearman

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Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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