Ex-Haas boss Guenther Steiner has repeated that he should’ve departed the team earlier than he did as his ambition to progress more wasn’t reciprocated elsewhere.
Haas announced over the recent winter that Steiner, who had been at the helm since the eponymous side’s inception in 2016, would be leaving with immediate effect.
Steiner revealed that his unexpected exit derived from a disagreement with team owner Gene Haas on the investment the American squad required to be competitive.
Meanwhile, Haas claimed that the team, which slumped to last in the Constructors’ Championship, should have been achieving better results under its current model.
But although Haas has risen to seventh this term under Ayao Komatsu’s leadership, Steiner has insisted that its past struggles can’t be attributed to his management.
“I tried to find a solution to get out of this hole I was in,” Steiner said on How to Fail with Elizabeth Day. “They were not accepted.
“When it happened, it was like, I don’t care. I didn’t want to take the blame for being where the team was. Because it wasn’t me. It’s for some other reason.
“It’s not my company. I need to respect that, you know, I’m big enough to do that. You can do what you want, but I’m fine with it.”
Steiner has repeated that hindsight has shown him that the correct thing to do would have been to listen to his growing internal doubts about his role and step aside.
“What I think I learned of it is I should have left earlier,” he acknowledged. “When you get the feeling it’s not right, listen to your feeling.
“I had the feeling, but then obviously being in F1, you’re attracted, it’s, you know, everybody’s interested, you create a lot of interest in it and you are almost afraid to call it quits.
“But then when you call it quits, it’s actually better, whatever it is, I think, and you rightly say failure makes you good, in my opinion, but you have to be careful with failure as well.
“If you fall too hard, it’s not good, but, what I learned here is like next time around or whenever it is, I will listen more to my inner feelings, not to my ego.”
The Italian, 59, has admitted that it became a challenge to remain motivated in his previous position when his aspirations of progressing weren’t supported higher up.
“I’m disappointed because I don’t do anything without the aim to win something,” he expressed.
“You know, I’m not in motorsport just to have a job. That is not why I’m here. I want to win something.
“And that’s maybe also the reason why all this thing, that I left, happened because I wanted to move forward and the owner didn’t, you know.
He added: “To fight, to be eight, seven, over and over again, it gets old.
“I want to achieve more, and at some stage you rather take a step back to make two forward than keep on doing more of the same, when you feel like, I’m not achieving what I want.
“To win a World Championship is difficult, and by no means could I say, would I have won it with another team, no, but at least I want to have the chance to win.”
