“Drive to Survive” goes to want some new stars. Daniel Ricciardo misplaced his Components 1 drive – once more – earlier this week, and Gene Haas confirmed Guenther Steiner the door earlier than the season even started.
Fortuitously for Steiner, his appearances in Drive to Survive had already given him adequate superstar standing to permit him to place out a e-book, 2023’s Surviving to Drive, which lined the staff’s 2022 season. This was one thing of a redemptive 12 months for the staff, who had sunk to final within the championship the 12 months earlier than, then rebounded as they seized the chance to interchange hapless pay driver Nikita Mazepin with Kevin Magnussen.
However 2023 proved a actuality verify. Haas sank again to final within the championship and Steiner paid the worth as Haas elected to not prolong his contract.
Quickly afterwards Steiner confirmed he was engaged on a second e-book protecting his decade operating the staff, starting lengthy earlier than its 2016 debut. You would possibly subsequently count on it accommodates quite a lot of score-settling, however to be honest to Steiner you’d solely be partly proper.
In a single respect, Steiner’s second e-book succeeds the place the primary failed, in that its narrative is extra coherent. However a lot of what made ‘Surviving to Drive’ recurs right here: That is little greater than a succession of tales which will probably be acquainted even to F1 followers who didn’t watch Drive to Survive, repackaged in “unfiltered” Steiner model mirrored by the title.
Disappointingly, a lot of the e-book quantities to little greater than easy re-tellings of Steiner’s eight seasons operating Haas. Throughout that point he will need to have gathered all method of takes these acquainted tales could be embellished with, however nearly none seem, save for one mirthless chapter involving a tray of baked beans.
Even the shock of the 2020 pandemic fails to encourage Steiner to increase the narrative past a pedestrian retelling of race outcomes, apart from to level out that a number of occasions have been cancelled or postponed. The fixed regurgitations of race experiences are made no extra bearable by Steiner’s occasional remarks to the reader that he’ll attempt to hold them to a minimal.
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The opening sections on how Haas entered F1 subsequently show essentially the most participating, but right here, too, there may be little perception to be gleaned. Why did Haas acquire a spot on the desk eight years in the past when F1 is now so hostile to new entrants? Don’t count on to realize any helpful perspective studying this.
Prolific swearing continues to be very a lot key to Steiner’s schtick, so Mohammed Ben Sulayem ought to look away now. Really, the FIA president could be finest suggested to keep away from it altogether, as Steiner has some alternative phrases about his efficiency within the position in comparison with his predecessor.
Steiner is unequivocal about the place he locations the blame for Haas’s hunch to last-place finishes in 2021 and 2023: a scarcity of funding by Gene Haas past the preliminary entry into F1, specifically the mothballing of the staff’s amenities in the course of the pandemic.
There are a couple of moments of leisure available together with some affectionate jibes at his drivers which I received’t spoil right here. Although within the few locations the place Steiner ventures past his speedy space issues shortly go awry, equivalent to telling the reader YouTube was purchased by Fb (slightly than Google) or airily claiming Williams’ title sponsorship cope with Rokit, which led to a £26 million courtroom case “labored out okay”.
I had greater hopes for Steiner’s second e-book, as one of the best passages in his first have been these which addressed the sooner years of his profession. I’ve little doubt that any staff principal – actually this one – has extra participating tales to inform.
However a superficially attention-grabbing model can’t make up for what’s a deeply boring learn. Sure, Ben Sulayem ought to keep away from it, however so ought to everybody else.
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“Unfiltered: My unimaginable decade in Components 1” by Guenther Steiner
Writer: Guenther Steiner
Writer: Bantam Press
Printed: 2024
Pages: 320
Worth: £22
ISBN: 9780857506238
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