Christian Horner has taken a cheeky swipe at Guenther Steiner for shooting to fame thanks to Netflix hit Drive to Survive, despite his lack of success in Formula 1.
Steiner was team boss of minnow squad Haas from 2014 to 2023, overseeing two last-place finishes in the championship with a best result of fifth in 2018 before his removal.
The obvious highlight was Kevin Magnussen’s shock pole at the wet Brazilian Grand Prix in 2022, with success outside of that being few and far between.
But that didn’t stop Steiner from becoming hugely popular via Drive to Survive, where he immediately grabbed fans with his forthright personality and frequent bad language.
It even led to the Italian releasing a book named ‘Surviving to Drive’, highlighting how he was a big beneficiary of the series and arguably more famous for that than his actual job.
Former Red Bull boss Horner, who won a combined 14 F1 titles, told Autosport: “These guys are making a TV show, so they take hours and hours and hours of footage and it's all about how you edit something.
Christian Horner speaks to Autosport
Photo by: Autosport
“You can either make somebody look like the villain or the hero or vice versa. That show has been incredibly successful because it suddenly lifted the lid on some of the rivalries, the personalities, the driver's personalities, some of the characters.
“Guenther Steiner has made a career off the back of it…I mean, I don't think he ever achieved a podium in Formula 1!
“But good for him. He is a character, quite a scary character when he worked for us, but yeah, it's brought a whole new fan base into the sport, which has been fantastic.”
Steiner’s career started as a World Rally Championship mechanic before he eventually switched to F1 in 2001 as managing director of Jaguar, leaving at the end of 2002.
The now 61-year-old moved to Red Bull - who took over from Jaguar - for its debut campaign in 2005 as technical operations director, which he served for just one season.
That’s because legendary designer Adrian Newey joined the squad, so Steiner moved to Red Bull’s NASCAR division, where he remained until 2008, as technical director.
Horner and Steiner in 2005
Photo by: Red Bull Racing
“When I arrived at Red Bull, they said we've employed this guy that Niki Lauda had recommended, he used to be at Jaguar, his name's Guenther Steiner,” added Horner.
“I'd never heard of him and when I looked him up on the internet he looked fairly scary, that was my first impression, and then Guenther turned up.
“He was then responsible for the RB2, the Ferrari-powered car that overheated in about three degrees at Silverstone on a shakedown.
“Adrian Newey turned up shortly afterwards and said ‘well, we'll forget about that car’.
"Then Guenther went off within the Red Bull world to work on the NASCAR project that was just getting going and that was his sort of transition into the American world.”
Steiner is now the CEO of MotoGP outfit Tech3, which is the only KTM satellite team on the grid and is currently eighth in the 2026 standings with 139 points.