Netflix’s Drive to Survive was perhaps the best thing that happened to Guenther Steiner in the world of Formula 1. The Italian-American was fairly unknown because of the poor state of his team, Haas. However, everything changed when Drive to Survive showcased the behind-the-scenes footage that made him somewhat of a celebrity among the fans. He suddenly became a rockstar of Formula 1 and even made his team money with merchandise. So when the F1 world expressed their dissatisfaction with his sacking, it was understood. However, a former Red Bull performance engineer has opposed the general perception and got the backing of some fans.
The former Red Bull employee who goes by BRRRAKE on social media replied to Will Buxton’s tweet sympathizing with Steiner and highlighting the uproar has been immense because of his popularity. The ex-performance engineer made a sound argument in his reply pointing out how little we know about the team principals despite Steiner being the third oldest boss on the grid.
I don't understand why people get attached to team bosses. The only thing we know about them is what they say on TV and how the team performs, which often has very little to do with them other than the people they have appointed. The same is true of technical directors and other… https://t.co/09Fu4BzQhN
— BRRRAKE (@brrrake) January 12, 2024
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He tweeted, “I don’t understand why people get attached to team bosses. The only thing we know about them is what they say on TV and how the team performs, which often has very little to do with them other than the people they have appointed. The same is true of technical directors and other higher profile staff. That being said, having worked with very few of the remaining ones, I have strong opinions about all of them 🤣🤣”
BRRRAKE’S reply to Will Buxton gathered some steam as he got some of the fans backing him in his assessment. Let’s take a look at the fans’ reasoning.
Ex-Red Bull man’s unsympathetic outlook toward Guenther Steiner gets the backing of the fans
Of course, some fans called him out for being insensitive about the topic highlighting his screen time on DTS was enough for the fans to relate to him. However, that was exactly his argument. He pointed out how the fans know a very small side of the TPs thanks to DTS and nothing beyond that. There is little to no mention of their personal life and their personality around the paddock is limited to the paddocks.
Some fans agreed with this argument.
Exactly! It’s a performance based business! 👏👏
— F1Guy 🇬🇧🇪🇺🇩🇪 (@F1Guy7) January 12, 2024
You can blame 2019 for that. They had the team boss intro for the first time and Liberty really drove it into our heads that the TP was like the team coach.
— LawVS (@LawVSX) January 12, 2024
One fan pointed out how the 2019 season of DTS introduced the TPs and that’s the only reason why the fans can and are sympathizing with Steiner. One fan related this unsubstantiated sympathy with Daniel Ricciardo’s example.
He was on camera a lot in DTS , knowing a lot about a person giving you that connection and the personality. more people wanted dani to continue even though he was not performing because of his personality.
— Shiroyasha (@Utkarsh_117_) January 12, 2024
This disappointment at Steiner departing is at least 50% public disappointment about a popular main character in DTS having been 'written out', no?
— Michienonymous🍥 (@michielhimself) January 12, 2024
WATCH THIS STORY: Drive to Survive’s success becomes inspiration for F1 TV drama with Star Wars actress as the lead
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Read Newey's book over Christmas there. Aside from the fact he was making an *enormous* amount of money after about twelve minutes in motorsport, the other bit that stands out is him relentlessly taking all the credit for the cars. Seems a bit mad if you've got 200 engineers 😬
— Nick McCleery (@nick_mccleery) January 12, 2024
I feel like the only happy one. He annoyed me in DTS, but also Haas were getting worse. They changed drivers, an assortment of personnel, but kept him?
Glad to see someone else take the helm, maybe they can do something better with their Ferrari parts.
— tee (@xteelalouise) January 12, 2024
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Well, we’ve always known F1 fans to be brutal, we can see a glimpse of that in the reactions. Let’s hope this set of fans is kinder to the replacement Ayao Komatsu.