Did Steiner's star status become too much for Gene Haas? 'Achieved a lot'

Partly due to the Netflix series Drive to Survive, Guenther Steiner has gained true star status. Did Haas owner Gene Haas perhaps feel overshadowed by the popular team boss? Sky Sports asked Steiner, who was confirmed as leaving on Wednesday.

Did Gene Haas feel overshadowed by Steiner?

Steiner was the big star of the Haas Formula 1 team. It has, therefore, been suggested that the Italian's popularity became too much for team owner Gene Haas. Steiner himself had not considered that thought, but when asked, he acknowledges that it could be a factor.

"Thinking back now, it could have. But in the end, that celebrity gave the team a lot of exposure and brought in very good sponsors like MoneyGram because they like that. They could use that. There are always positives and negatives to anything," Steiner explains.

"Maybe there were some positives, and somebody brought up the negatives. These are things you cannot always plan for because I was not out there to try to look for a celebrity. It happened to me, and all the people who know me know that so I'm okay with it," continued the former Haas team boss.

He says he did not consciously use his fame but does think it worked to the team's advantage rather than disadvantage. "I didn't try to make something out of it. I didn't get up in the morning to be a celebrity. I get up in the morning to work. I think it worked a lot in favour of the team because without that maybe it would have been closed before," Steiner said.