104 GP RACING MARCH 2020
nothing else,then we juststartedto do this
year’s car– and hopefully it will be better.”
It would be easy after such a trying time
to overreact at managerial level – seeka
scapegoat, enact a reshuffle of personnel,
hire and fire key technical and engineering
staff in pursuit of better. But Steiner has
instead opted for stability. There has been
no bloodletting behind the
scenes, Guenther preferring
instead to allow his young squad
to learn from its mistakes.
He’s applied similar mercy
to his driver line-up,giving
Grosjean and Magnussenthe
benefit of the doubt despite their
needless and costly collisions- most notably at Silverstone,
where both cars ran in different
specifications to gather crucial data on those
aerodynamic flaws but collided on lap one...
“At first you think they don’t listen; don’t
wantto listen,then you givethem the benefit of
the doubt that they just did something stupid,”
Steiner explains. “I understand them both
because they both, even ina difficult situation like
this, want to show more and tryto get points for
their own sake, so they run harder.
“I don’t think there is a black or white answer.
I think it was circumstances involved there as
well – that they were always in the wrong place
at the wrong time, together. Did they not want
to listen? Maybe that as well – show ‘I’m the
number one here’ you know? But I don’t think
there was intention from their side. In the back
of their minds maybe it was there, but they didn’t
go in to the race to run each other off.
“They didn’t want to be confronting me,
because I know when I’m angry I’m not a nice
person. They said they didn’t want a scenario like
Silverstone where they were sitting infront of me
like schoolchildren – and I don’t want that either.
It doesn’t make me happy if I gooff the handle.”
Alternative options –particularly Renault
reject Nico Hülkenberg – weresugge sted,
but Steiner ultimately resisted change. While
Magnussen already had a contract, Grosjean
was on shakier ground. It was his leadership in
identifyingthe fundamental problem with Haas’s
Barcelona upgradepackage that strengthened his
case to remain.
“Changing a driver or drivers is also like giving
them some blame as well, which I think isn’t fair,”
explains Steiner. “The performance ofthe car is
nothing to do with them. Sometimes change is
good because you start a new dynamic, but you
can start something new and then get lost in
that. [And I’ve got] more important things to do.
I cannot spend [extra] time with a new driver.
I’ve got my hands full already.”
Steiner’s approach is to be hands-off with his
drivers in any case, learned from working with
the contrasting anddemanding personalities of
Messrs Sainz (“I’ve never met anybody like him–
he’s unbelievable”), McRae and Irvine.
“I never was afraid of any of these big stars,”
Steiner says. “I think having beenexposed to
these chara cters for sure helped me to deal with
it a lot better. I don’t try to be too involved in
managing them [the drivers], because I’m a big
believer in if you are at this level in a sport, if you
need nursing from me I’ve got the wrong guy.
“I’ve got agood relationshipwith them,butIdon’t speak with them on adaily basis.A
lot of people speak with their drivers twice,
three time s a week. I letpeople geton with
it, and when there is something to talk
[about], we talk. Characterslike Carlos,
Colin and Eddie helped me to get a lot
more confident in dealing with these kinds
of people. They were very demanding.”
And so is Steiner. This season
he will demand better from
his team – a better car, better
performance and a better
reaction if things go wrong.
“The challenge is always to
try to do the best and limit the
mistakes you make,” he adds.
“You will make mistakes, and
have ways out of it when youdo
a wrong decision. Not finding
excuses for it, looking reality in the eye.
“That for maybe 2019 is one of the things we
didn’t do well, when we had this issue with the
Barcelona upgrade we were not tough enough on
ourselves – we believed in our own propaganda.
I would not blame it on complacency, itwas ju st a
strange reaction to a strange problem – havinga
car that was very temperamental.
“I hope [this year] to be back fighting for points
at each race. What comes outthen we don’t know
because I don’t know how strong the other ones
are – but as long as you can go into a race and
know after lap 20 you won’t be 15th, that will be
already a success.
“What I expectfrom the team– I’m actually
very proud ofhow they were last year, even if we
had a difficult situation.They kept their heads
high, nobody gave up, they werealways there,
worked ha rd, were diligent, always tried todo
their bestand I think having a bad season they got
a lotmore confidence inthem selves.
“I kept telling them: ‘guys, you did it last year
[2018], you haven’tgone stupid overnight, we
can come back’. They believe in that, and that’s
the most important thing for me. We just needto
keep on being motivated,work hard, and we will
get back to where wewere.”“I’M ACTUALLY VERY PROUD OF HOW THEY WERE LAST
YEAR, EVEN IF WE HAD A DIFFICULT SITUATION. THEY
KEPT THEIR HEADS HIGH, NOBODY GAVE UP AND I
THINK, HAVING A BAD SEASON, THEY GOT ALOT
MORE CONFIDENCE IN THEMSELVES”
202 0 SEASON PREVIEW
104 GP RACING MARCH 2020
nothing else,then we juststartedto do this
year’s car– and hopefully it will be better.”
It would be easy after such a trying time
to overreact at managerial level – seeka
scapegoat, enact a reshuffle of personnel,
hire and fire key technical and engineering
staff in pursuit of better. But Steiner has
instead opted for stability. There has been
no bloodletting behind the
scenes, Guenther preferring
instead to allow his young squad
to learn from its mistakes.
He’s applied similar mercy
to his driver line-up,giving
Grosjean and Magnussenthe
benefit of the doubt despite their
needless and costly collisions- most notably at Silverstone,
where both cars ran in different
specifications to gather crucial data on those
aerodynamic flaws but collided on lap one...
“At first you think they don’t listen; don’t
wantto listen,then you givethem the benefit of
the doubt that they just did something stupid,”
Steiner explains. “I understand them both
because they both, even ina difficult situation like
this, want to show more and tryto get points for
their own sake, so they run harder.
“I don’t think there is a black or white answer.
I think it was circumstances involved there as
well – that they were always in the wrong place
at the wrong time, together. Did they not want
to listen? Maybe that as well – show ‘I’m the
number one here’ you know? But I don’t think
there was intention from their side. In the back
of their minds maybe it was there, but they didn’t
go in to the race to run each other off.
“They didn’t want to be confronting me,
because I know when I’m angry I’m not a nice
person. They said they didn’t want a scenario like
Silverstone where they were sitting infront of me
like schoolchildren – and I don’t want that either.
It doesn’t make me happy if I gooff the handle.”
Alternative options –particularly Renault
reject Nico Hülkenberg – weresugge sted,
but Steiner ultimately resisted change. While
Magnussen already had a contract, Grosjean
was on shakier ground. It was his leadership in
identifyingthe fundamental problem with Haas’s
Barcelona upgradepackage that strengthened his
case to remain.
“Changing a driver or drivers is also like giving
them some blame as well, which I think isn’t fair,”
explains Steiner. “The performance ofthe car is
nothing to do with them. Sometimes change is
good because you start a new dynamic, but you
can start something new and then get lost in
that. [And I’ve got] more important things to do.
I cannot spend [extra] time with a new driver.
I’ve got my hands full already.”
Steiner’s approach is to be hands-off with his
drivers in any case, learned from working with
the contrasting anddemanding personalities of
Messrs Sainz (“I’ve never met anybody like him–
he’s unbelievable”), McRae and Irvine.
“I never was afraid of any of these big stars,”
Steiner says. “I think having beenexposed to
these chara cters for sure helped me to deal with
it a lot better. I don’t try to be too involved in
managing them [the drivers], because I’m a big
believer in if you are at this level in a sport, if you
need nursing from me I’ve got the wrong guy.
“I’ve got agood relationshipwith them,butIdon’t speak with them on adaily basis.A
lot of people speak with their drivers twice,
three time s a week. I letpeople geton with
it, and when there is something to talk
[about], we talk. Characterslike Carlos,
Colin and Eddie helped me to get a lot
more confident in dealing with these kinds
of people. They were very demanding.”
And so is Steiner. This season
he will demand better from
his team – a better car, better
performance and a better
reaction if things go wrong.
“The challenge is always to
try to do the best and limit the
mistakes you make,” he adds.
“You will make mistakes, and
have ways out of it when youdo
a wrong decision. Not finding
excuses for it, looking reality in the eye.
“That for maybe 2019 is one of the things we
didn’t do well, when we had this issue with the
Barcelona upgrade we were not tough enough on
ourselves – we believed in our own propaganda.
I would not blame it on complacency, itwas ju st a
strange reaction to a strange problem – havinga
car that was very temperamental.
“I hope [this year] to be back fighting for points
at each race. What comes outthen we don’t know
because I don’t know how strong the other ones
are – but as long as you can go into a race and
know after lap 20 you won’t be 15th, that will be
already a success.
“What I expectfrom the team– I’m actually
very proud ofhow they were last year, even if we
had a difficult situation.They kept their heads
high, nobody gave up, they werealways there,
worked ha rd, were diligent, always tried todo
their bestand I think having a bad season they got
a lotmore confidence inthem selves.
“I kept telling them: ‘guys, you did it last year
[2018], you haven’tgone stupid overnight, we
can come back’. They believe in that, and that’s
the most important thing for me. We just needto
keep on being motivated,work hard, and we will
get back to where wewere.”“I’M ACTUALLY VERY PROUD OF HOW THEY WERE LAST
YEAR, EVEN IF WE HAD A DIFFICULT SITUATION. THEY
KEPT THEIR HEADS HIGH, NOBODY GAVE UP AND I
THINK, HAVING A BAD SEASON, THEY GOT ALOT
MORE CONFIDENCE IN THEMSELVES”
202 0 SEASON PREVIEW