MARK GALLAGHER @_markgallagher
WHO YA GONNA CALL? RENT-A-BOSS
It’s the morning after the shock announcement of Gene Haas’s appointment of Ayao Komatsu as team principal of Haas F1 when my phone pings with a message from Guenther Steiner. I’m in Australia and enjoying my first coffee, but it’s the previous day for him thanks to the time difference.
At this point I should declare an interest, since my company works with Guenther and we enjoy a good relationship. Once he realises that’s it’s not late at night for me, we jump on a call.
He is, as always, positive, bullish and pragmatic. It’s Gene’s team and he can call the shots. After a decade of bringing Haas F1 into the world and leading it through times both good and bad, Guenther’s experience of working in motorsport for three and half decades has prepared him well. Change happens. Frankly, shit happens.
The one thing which genuinely surprises Guenther is the reaction to him being replaced. The calls and messages he’s had, and also the people he’s heard from. The outpouring of near-grief from many fans and the media hysteria surrounding this departure.
His surprise escalates further when he fulfils his commitment to opening the Autosport International Show in Birmingham two days later. Some fans are in tears.
Appearing on stage, where he is interviewed by Sky Sports F1’s David Croft, the questions have changed. Rather than talking about Haas’s hopes for the new season, he has to explain why he, one of Formula 1’s best known team principals and a star of Netflix’s Drive To Survive, is no longer employed.
I’ve previously written about the dawn of the hired-in team principal, the pitfalls which come with taking on what used to be the top job in a team. Gone are the days when the team principal owned the business. Only Toto Wolff can renew his own contract.
Team principals are answerable to the owners. The successors to eponymous team owners such as Enzo Ferrari, Ron Dennis, Frank Williams and Eddie Jordan are John Elkann,
