by VALERIO BARRETTA
Steiner, the new truth about farewell
The one that has just begun in Bahrain is the first Formula 1 season without Günther Steiner since 2016. It's still quite impressive to see the Haas wall without its sporty and charismatic guide, a burden that Ayao Komatsu will now have to shoulder.
The South Tyrolean misses the Circus: an absence that could not last long, considering Steiner's experience (in F1 for over 20 years) and his ability to bring home good contracts with sponsors. Haas itself knows something about it, having found its lifeline in MoneyGram after the departure of Uralkali. But, according to Steiner, the sponsors themselves are behind his farewell. This was revealed by the colleague of Ziggo Sports Jack Plooij, friend of the Merano native.
Plooij's words
“Günther and I spoke at the beginning of the week, but we weren't allowed to ask how it actually went with Haas and what he would do. But then he sent me a message, allowing me to tell what happened.”these are the words of the Dutchman in the program Race Cafe.
“Günther has found a 20 million sponsor, but he told Gene Haas he wanted some team stock to stay and keep the relationship going. Haas, however, did not accept, and so Steiner himself left the team“.
Haas' version of the phone call
This version of Steiner, however, seems to contradict what he himself told immediately after the interruption of the relationship with Haas, i.e. a phone call from the owner between Christmas and New Year which took him by surprise. Or, at this point, he would have. What is certain is that the Merano native is no longer in Formula 1 as team principal, but he will follow the paddock closely as a television commentator for the Germans RTL. Because two decades of F1 can't be erased with a phone call.
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