Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, the Italian-American believes the Milton Keynes-based team will be able to cope with his absence without any major issues.

“I don’t think they will be worse off. I don’t know if they are better off, but I don’t think they will be worse off because the team is well established. Under Laurent’s leadership, they know what they want and what they do. Since he came in, he has done a good job.”

However, should they need him again next year, Steiner believes it would only take a phone call to bring him back and have him lend a hand, as he has done for the past 20 years.

The Austrian was keen to shoulder part of the blame for Max Verstappen missing out on the title, saying that “we didn’t provide him with a car that was on par often enough and I partly blame myself for that.”

The Dutchman lost the championship by just two points to Lando Norris, falling short of completing a comeback that would have rewritten Formula 1 history — even if the feat will nonetheless live long in the collective memory.