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Guenther began his professional life in rallying, initially joining the Mazda Rally Team Europe as a mechanic. His career progressed to the pinnacle of motorsport, Formula 1, where he served as Team Principal of the Haas F1 Team. His appearances on the Netflix series Drive to Survive has made him a star, and his book Surviving to Drive reveals the highs, lows, pressures and demands experienced behind the scenes of the sport.
In leading the Haas F1 Team, Guenther Steiner became one of Formula 1’s most popular and high-profile Team Principals. With over thirty years’ experience in international motorsport, he led America’s only Formula 1 team for almost a decade.
Guenther began his professional motorsport career in rallying, initially achieving success with Mazda before joining the independent Top Run team and later the Jolly Club organisation, fielding cars including the famous Lancia Delta Integrale and Ford Escort RS Cosworth. The team won consecutive Italian Rally Championship titles with Guenther in the role of Technical Manager. A move to the Prodrive organisation in the UK saw Guenther become team manager for its Allstar Rally Team, winning the European Championship in its first season. This led to him being invited to join Ford’s rally team, M-Sport, where he became Director of Engineering, working with World Champions Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz.
Ford then asked Guenther to move across to its Formula 1 project, Jaguar Racing. As Managing Director, he took on the task of restructuring the team and in his single season the team scored a podium finish in Italy with driver Eddie Irvine. After a short period working with Opel, Guenther returned to Formula 1 with Red Bull Racing and the team then asked him to lead their move into Nascar.
When entrepreneur Gene Haas began exploring the logistics of creating a Formula 1 team, he approached Guenther to lead the project. His experience of building successful race teams from scratch made him the ideal candidate. Since then, Haas has become firmly established as one of F1’s leading independent teams, achieving a fifth place in the Constructors' Championship despite huge financial pressures and a signifcant gap between the independent teams and the established giants like Mercedes and Ferrari.
Guenther has become a media and fan favourite, thanks in large part to his straight-talking style and keen sense of humour, frequently displayed in the Netflix series Drive To Survive. He's also written his own behind-the-scenes look at the sport - it's incredible pressures, rewards and challenges - titled Surviving to Drive.
