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Former F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner led a consortium and took control of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP team. The former Haas F1 team boss recently came out, revealing the reason why he chose to enter the world of MotoGP and closed the door on F1 opportunities.
Guenther Steiner had been the Team Principal of the Haas F1 team since the American team joined the F1 grid in 2016. The Italian Team Principal's contract with Haas expired at the end of the 2023 season, and the American team decided against re-signing Steiner, with Ayao Komatsu taking over the TP role.
Since then, Guenther Steiner featured as a guest on multiple podcasts and took over the F1 commentary role with German channel RTL. In early September, Guenther Steiner and the consortium led by came out and publicly announced the acquisition of the Tech 3 MotoGP Team.
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The acquisition deal was reportedly worth around $24 million, as Steiner was announced as the CEO of the team, and his partner Richard Coleman as Team Principal. Guenther Steiner and Co. will effectively be instilled into their roles ahead of the 2026 season.
Steiner reportedly had multiple F1 offers after he left Haas, but decided against them and took on the MotoGP challenge. Revealing the reason behind his decision, Guenther Steiner said,
“Why not another project in Formula 1? First of all, I would say [MotoGP] is something I always looked at and never had time [for], and it was interesting. I think Formula 1 is at the stage [where] I've done it, I've been there long enough, so I [wanted to] do something new. I always like new challenges. I moved to the States to open up a NASCAR team when I was in Formula 1.” (via Autosport)
“Formula 1 is fantastic, but it's not the only thing you can do in motorsport. I always like challenges in my life to do something new because when we started, I thought, ‘do you think I can make this happen?’ And we made it happen,” added the Italian team boss.
Guenther Steiner's partner reveals the Italian had F1 offers, but chose MotoGP as the former F1 Boss wanted “full control”
Before joining the Haas F1 project, Steiner worked with the Red Bull F1 team and then moved to the US and led the Red Bull NASCAR project. Even at Haas, the Italian was the man in control of the team. While Guenther Steiner did receive F1 offers after leaving Haas, none of the offers guaranteed full control of the team's working, hence the former F1 Boss chose MotoGP.
Richard Coleman came out and detailed the same as he said,
“Guenther's had quite a few offers and bits and bobs in Formula 1, but we've both been in environments where we've had strained relationships with people we've worked with, and we just wanted to do something that was very much on our terms, that we had full control over. So, looking at it like a five-year horizon, we're pretty excited as to what we think we can do in this paddock.”
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton's camps have also showcased interest in MotoGP team ownership since Liberty Media took over the MotoGP ownership in 2024.
