Günther Steiner is the head of the Haas team in Formula One, but he has recently been working on a book about his perspective on working in the sport and beyond. Roksana Ćwik spoke to the Italian in Baku about this latest publication and, above all, the behind-the-scenes, the difficulties of writing and the surprising facts that he has never spoken about publicly.
What was your first reaction when James Hogg asked you to write a book?
No reaction, basically, no. They asked me and then when we spoke about it, I said: I'm not going to do an autobiography or biography, whatever you want to call it, because I don't think that's interesting enough. Then he came up with the idea to do like a diary. He had already thought about that one, that maybe could work. The only doubt was, how do we know what the year will bring if it's a boring year, what you write about, you know. Then he said: there's for sure something going on with you. And then we decided to do it, I don't know, we met maybe two or three times before I said yes because I think his idea was pretty good.
It's the number one at Amazon in the interviewing biography, in Poland it's almost out of stock. Did you thought it would be like that?
No, absolutely not and I still don't believe it. No, I didn't think it would go like this. It is very strange, you know, because it's not my main job to write books. And all of a sudden, you're on the bestseller list on the Sunday Times. It's strange, but because this has never been done. Sometimes you need to be courageous and do something different. It wasn't my idea; I'm not claiming it was my idea. With James Hogg together we came to this one and I think it's good if people like it. It's good for the people because they couldn't buy it if they're not interested in it. It shows again the sports from a completely different side.
How important was it to have Stuart [Morrison, Head of Communications in Haas] by your side?
Very important, because otherwise I would have been lost. You always need good people around you. He's not included in the good people… that was a joke. You need good people around because you cannot do it all yourself and you need specialists. I can do my bit, but then to take you to the next step, you need to surround you with good people. Like everywhere: every business you do, if you think you know it all, you're last.
What was the most difficult thing to describe when writing this book?
I actually had no difficult thing, believe it or not. What I told in it is genuine, you know. I didn't have to think about or make it politically correct. I mean, people know me, I say how it is. Then obviously, the most difficult moment was when James had the first draft of the book, and I didn't read it. I sent it to Stuart, because we have got a good understanding also with the TV series, with Drive to Survive. Stuart looks at it, not me, because if you look at it yourself, you take out half of it, and I have to trust people around me. I didn’t even ask how many things he took out; I know that he took a few ones, but I don't want to know details. You can ask him, I never ask what he took out, don't want to know, because I think that's not correct, you know. I trust his judgement, 100%. I'm not worried when the book came out, I was not worried what is in it, after I knew that he wrote it, I was fine. I was joking there could be something wrong, but it will not be intentional, I trust. The most difficult thing is when the book comes out and you see the [reaction of] first people. In the end, it all worked out well. Obviously people have got an opinion, because they said you shouldn't say this, you shouldn't say that. But then, why should I write a book if I say nothing in it? There's no point. If it's a book about nothing, nobody's going to buy it, and it's all truth. It's not made up, it's reality, it's not a fiction story, this one, so it's pretty simple in the end.
Some people who have read the book have written that they were surprised by your story with Niki Lauda. Was it difficult to say more about it than is often said?
I don't like to shout it out to everybody. I don't know where I was, I think James Hogg came to Brazil, because he was in Brazil, so he came down to. And he just sat down, and I told him a few stories and he said: these are stories we can put in the book; they will make it interesting. Are you happy to do it? I said, yes, because when I said to him in the first time, it was not for the book, it was telling him about me, and he was like, wow, these are stories nobody knows. No, because I normally don't tell them, and always say no, don't ask me, and that story came out naturally, because I told him to him as a friend and not to put in the book. He took them and he said: this is very interesting, and for me it is not as interesting as for people, because I lived it. I've got difficulty to understand what is interesting for people, that isn't interesting for me. I just don't. I never tell your story, what I did etc. No – for me it was part of my life, I enjoyed it, I had fun. I'm doing a lot of crazy things in my life. For me they are normal, but people are like: why do you do this? I just end up in this stuff, you know, because I cannot keep my mouth shut. I do something just because of my instinct.
You are very honest in this book. I was very surprised when I read about Ralf Schumacher - you were honest to a fault on this subject. Did he come to you for a talk?
No, because it's true. I think it is what it is, you have to take it what it is. It's my opinion, you know. When he attacked me all year long last year, I never answered publicly, never, because I don't think so. I just told my thoughts about it. And they are not part of him, you know, you do what you do, I do what I do, you know, I don't care about you, you don't care about me, so…
Okay, I think it would be everything. Thank you so much.
No problem.
