Drive to Survive star Guenther Steiner on F1 fame and going ‘Unfiltered’ ahead of Birmingham tour date

Unfiltered Live will immerse fans deeper than ever into the world of Formula 1, featuring exclusive, access-all-areas insights as Guenther shares the twists and turns of his incredible career, bringing fans into the heart of the pit lanes, circuits and characters.

Following the success of his sold-out 2024 tour and the release of his latest Sunday Times bestseller, Unfiltered, Guenther will visit 42 venues across the UK, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

Guenther Steiner is one of Formula 1’s most captivating figures, known for his bold leadership, no-holds-barred honesty, and quick wit. As the former team principal of Haas F1, he gained worldwide recognition as a breakout star on the hit Netflix series Drive to Survive.

With more than a decade of experience, Steiner has been at the heart of some of the sport's most dramatic moments. His fearless approach to racing, combined with his candid storytelling, has made him a fan favourite and a key figure in motorsport. 

Find out more about Guenther’s rise through the ranks, what it’s like being the breakout star of Drive To Survive, his thoughts on the future of F1 and what fans can expect from his new tour Unfiltered Live.

For more information and to purchase tickets go to fane.co.uk.

HOW DID YOU COME TO WORK IN F1?

I grew up in Merano, in the north of Italy, in the mountains – and there was no motorsport there. But despite that, I always loved racing cars, they were my passion as a kid. Every year, I always asked my father, to go to the one race in the region, which was about 40k from home and we went.

After I had completed National Service, and was studying engineering, I saw a job in a racing magazine advertising for a Belgian rally team – I got that job, moved to Belgium and it all went from there.

I was in rallying for about 15 years – quite a long time, when one day, I got a call from Niki Lauda, who was my childhood hero. His office called me and asked me to speak to him, and he offered me a job with Jaguar.

I didn’t have plans to move to F1, but how do you say no!

After about 18 months, I went to DTM Racing – a German racing series, then came back to Jaguar for another 18 months when Red Bull bought them, then went to the States working on Red Bull’s Nascar.

I loved life in the States and came up with the idea to find an investor for an F1 team and started my own team with Haas. That project started in about 2010, but then didn’t come to being until 2014/15.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING SUCH A KEY CHARACTER IN DRIVE TO SURVIVE – AND WHAT’S BEEN THE IMPACT OF THE SHOW?

Drive To Survive has been amazing for F1! The growth of F1 that we’ve seen in recent years wouldn’t have been possible without the show.

It was well timed with Covid-19 too. F1 was the first sport that went back live and Drive To Survive was huge when people were watching anything and everything they could on TV because there was nothing else to do – so it became a massive hit.

It’s brought a huge new audience to the sport – in particular young people, which is what every sport is aiming for, and female interest has increased too. F1 was very much a middle-aged white man’s place for viewers. The show has opened the sport to a lot more people and now everyone is watching – there’s no single demographic dominating.

For me though… I don’t like to watch myself or hear myself, I never have. It’s cringe!

When the show first came out, there were people talking about my role in it. I know how I am, but I didn’t expect they would show me how I am… I thought they would take out the bad pieces.

So, to avoid any debate of whether I’m good or bad, or what the perception is of me, I avoid watching it. I guess it’s avoidance of criticism, but I just don’t want to get into the debate of how I am. And if I don’t like what I see, it’s not like I can do anything about it or do better.

I’m not an actor, so don’t need to see how I come across on cameras to learn to improve. And I don’t want to be conscious of the cameras. Cameras have always been around with F1, but they are just doing a different job now – so why change how you react to them?

HOW DID YOU MAKE THE MOVE FROM F1 TO TOURING – AND WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT FROM UNFILTERED LIVE?

I did a couple of small events in Australia, which went really well and it went from there to become a tour, which was An Evening With…, and we did 25 shows across the UK in autumn 2024, which were almost all sold out venues.

My career goes back nearly 40 years, so there are a lot of stories to share about how I got to where I am – how I got into motorsport, setting up Haas F1 and what I am looking forward to now and in the future.

I hope the show gives people a different perspective of how the world of motorsport and F1 works – and that it’s an interesting evening learning about the sport and about me. But it’s not a data presentation, and is really fun!

And the last 15 minutes will be a question and answer session again. I really enjoyed that last time! Even after many years of interviews and being asked questions, people still come up with new angles I’ve not heard or surprising questions… And I don’t always have the answers, but those are the best questions in my opinion.

YOU SAY YOU’RE NOT AN ACTOR – SO HOW DOES IT FEEL STEPPING OUT ON STAGE ON TOUR?

I have no issue stepping out on stage actually. It’s cool – I’m not nervous at all. I just go out thinking I want to do a good job.

As long as I do my bit, no one can say I didn’t try. I hate the waiting around in between though. Once I’m there, and ready, I want to just get on with it.

The biggest thing has been adapting to the hours of touring life – working during the evenings and into the night, which I am not used to, and I naturally get up in the day light.

But when you see people enjoying the show that makes it worthwhile, and I think I’ve done something pretty cool in giving people a fun, entertaining evening out.

WHAT’S IT LIKE WORKING IN F1? WE HAVE AN IMAGE OF TRAVEL, GLAMOUR, MONEY…

It’s funny, because when you are in the bubble of F1, you don’t realise what it is – because it is your reality, it’s just your day by day.

At the end of the day, it’s just a job albeit one with high stakes. The highs are high, the lows are low. It’s actually a lot more volatile than even football, and there are fewer people involved at the highest level.

Yes, there is glamour, investments and all that stuff, but it’s easy to get it wrong in that environment. And you have to remember that it is a privilege to work in the industry. Nobody deserves anything in F1.

Everyone has to earn their existence. You have to be good, it’s a hard world to survive in.

WHERE DO YOU SEE THE FUTURE OF F1?

We have seen such a huge growth of F1 in recent years, and a lot of that is thanks to Drive To Survive, but there is always room for more growth – although maybe not at the rate we’ve seen these last five years. It needs to stabilise first and then continue with a slower rate of growth.

F1 is an incredible space for technological developments – it will aways be at the forefront of technology with bright minds combining with money. Everyone wants to win and compete, and that’s a great environment for technological innovation and advancement, and with a race every second week, it has to push hard.

And while technology is important, behind every technological advance there are humans. Everything is human in F1: Humans push the technology. Humans find the money to push the technology. The drivers are humans.

There has been talk about AI and how that will impact F1. But even with the advances in AI, it’s always about humans. It always comes back to that. AI cannot take away the human element, and I don’t think we should be afraid of AI. It can make jobs easier and allow humans to focus elsewhere. It has a place, but it won’t take over – you still need the human mind and human actions.

A good driver with a bad car cannot beat a bad driver with a good car. It’s probably 80% car, 20% driver. If you have best car and best driver, the come together as they want to be the best together.