Red Bull Formula 1 boss Christian Horner has recalled how Guenther Steiner being “not a technical leader” forced his Red Bull exit, drawing comparison to his recent departure from the Haas team.
Haas announced last week that Steiner’s contract had not been renewed and he would be replaced by Ayao Komatsu, formerly Head of Trackside Engineering.
Before being a permanent fixture at Haas F1 since its inception in 2014, Steiner had been recruited to Red Bull upon the Austrian company’s takeover of Jaguar 10 years prior.
With Steiner taking on the role of Technical Operations Director, Horner was appointed Team Principal and the pair worked together during Red Bull’s inaugural F1 campaign.
However, Horner reveals that he had initially been seeking to enter F1 on his terms with the Arden side he had founded, who were competing in Formula 3000 at that time.
“I was looking to see how I could take Arden into F1. Bernie [Ecclestone] was pushing me towards the Jordan team,” Horner told the i.
“Helmut invited me to meet Dietrich [Mateschitz, Red Bull founder] in Salzburg in the summer of 2004. The Jordan deal didn’t happen and Red Bull bought Jaguar. Dietrich invited me back at the end of 2004 and asked me to be team principal.”
Horner would proceed to build Red Bull into one of the most successful teams in the sport’s history, overseeing seven Drivers’ titles and six Constructors’ Championships.
However, that glory materialised without Steiner’s involvement as he made way a year later once Red Bull persuaded technical genius Adrian Newey to move from McLaren.
“Guenther was and is a character, but it was obvious he was not a technical leader,” Horner explained.
“I identified what the team really needed was technical leadership and direction. So from a very early stage I made a point of bumping into Adrian.”
Horner’s reasoning for replacing Steiner echoed that of the statement made by Gene Haas, who said Komatsu puts “engineering at the heart of our management” structure.
Steiner had led Haas to a best finish in the Constructors’ Championship of fifth in 2018, but the American outfit had regressed since then and dropped to last position in 2023.
The Haas VF-23 challenger struggled with excessive tyre degradation and a car concept that had hit a development ceiling, causing the team to accrue only 12 points.
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