Drive to Survive shows brutal Gene Haas verdict as Guenther Steiner ‘had enough’

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The hit Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ has shown the moment that Guenther Steiner told Gene Haas that he ‘had enough’ after the Formula 1 team owner’s brutal verdict.

Season six of the documentary series dropped on Friday morning and takes a look at Steiner leaving Haas after nearly a decade in charge. He took over the American squad back in 2014 as they prepared to enter Formula 1. Haas debuted on the F1 grid at the 2016 Australian GP.

But while Steiner steered the ship for so long, Gene Haas did not renew his contract after an underwhelming season. The Italian-American engineer’s contract expired in December with Ayao Komatsu replacing Steiner at the helm, having worked as their director of engineering.

Guenther Steiner left Haas after the F1 team’s second-worst season ever

Haas endured their second-worst season as a Formula 1 team so far in 2023 as they finished the year last in the constructors’ championship. Only in 2021 when they failed to record any points with Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin had they finished any term in 10th before.

A failure to address the problems with the VF-23 ensured Haas never recovered their year in 2023. Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen could occasionally qualify well with P2 and P4 results at the Canadian GP and Miami GP respectively. But the car churned through its tyres.

Haas took a major set of upgrades to their home United States GP last October to try and fix the VF-23’s tyre degradation problems. But their upgrades did not work, so Magnussen even reverted to their previous specification at the final races for Haas to do a direct comparison.

Guenther Steiner told Gene Haas ‘I’m done’ after the F1 team owner’s brutal verdict

Now, episode four of Netflix’s ‘Drive to Survive’ series has shone light on Steiner’s increasing dissatisfaction at Haas in 2023. Steiner initially opens up during an honest conversation with his wife, Gertraud, about how the American team faced ‘problems’ while rival teams gained.

“It is getting tougher and tougher in F1,” Steiner said. “Everything has changed. If you know that you are last every year, there’s no point in doing it. It’s too hard work for no joy.

“If only the season were as good as the wine. That’d be great. We struggle at the moment, in plain language. Everyone made progress and we have problems.”

Later in episode four, Netflix also shows Steiner making an honest phone call to team owner Haas after the Mexico City GP. The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez round saw Hulkenberg and Magnussen qualify in 12th and 17th place but then finish in P13 and retire respectively.

“Kind of a waste of time,” Haas opened. To which, Steiner replied: “That was some day. I’ve been doing this a long time, you know, it’s a difficult game.”

Haas would add, “Yeah, but next year, it’s gonna be the same story,” tempting Steiner to say: “I’ve had enough, I’m done with this.”