9 hours Ago By Louise Rugendyke
Guenther Steiner has never watched the show that made him famous. “I never watched Drive to Survive ,” he says. “No, no, I do not watch it.
” Despite being surrounded by Formula 1 superstars such as Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, Steiner somehow became the Netflix hit’s biggest star – a 59-year-old Italian who lost a lot, swore often and was eventually dumped from his job as Haas team principal. Former Haas team principal and Netflix star Guenther Steiner is in Melbourne to commentate for the Australian Grand Prix. Credit: Luis Enrique “It is a little bit strange, especially in the beginning,” Steiner says.
“I needed to get used to it because I wasn’t used to people recognising you at the beginning. The biggest thing is people start to know your name and call you by name, and you don’t know [them]. But after a while you learn that not everybody [who] knows your name knows you.
It takes a bit of time to adjust to that one.” So he doesn’t consider himself a sex symbol? “No, no, no,” he says, laughing. Steiner is in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, where he’s commentating for Network Ten.
He has also been touring a live showbased on his best-selling book Unfiltered . It’s been a whirlwind. Before season one of the Netflix documentary, in 2019, Steiner was just another dude in a sport traditionally loved by dudes.
Drive to Survive changed that. Suddenly, the team principals became household names. “I don’t know, maybe I’ve got a story to tell,” Steiner says, when asked about his popularity.
Even at his book signings, it was reported that he had longer lines than many of the younger drivers. “But they are young, maybe they have nothing to tell. Not yet, anyway.
Maybe some day.”.
