F1 moving away from charismatic team principals as ‘it’s easier to get sponsors’, says ex-Haas boss Günther Steiner

• Steiner was like a ‘third driver in terms of popularity’ at Haas
• Italian’s replacement Komatsu ‘not trying to be Günther Steiner’

Formula One teams are moving away from charismatic team principals as “it’s easier to get sponsors these days”, according to former Haas boss Günther Steiner.

Steiner formed a key component of the US-based team’s commercial strategy thanks to his rise in popularity off the back of Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive. His forthright nature resonated with fans, but also attracted potential sponsors to the outfit.

Mark Morrell, director of marketing at Haas, previously told BlackBook Motorsport that the Italian was like “a third driver in terms of popularity”. However, Steiner’s replacement Ayao Komatsu represented not just a change in leadership, but a change of character.

At the time, the Japanese engineer told BlackBook Motorsport that he was “not trying to be Günther Steiner” and that Gene Haas was focused on developing “a performing organisation”.

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This emphasis on performance appears to be a developing trend across the grid, with the three most recent team principal appointments focusing on an engineering background, namely Komatsu, RB boss Laurent Mekies, and Alpine’s Bruno Famin. Sauber have even dispensed with a traditional team principal entirely.

“Performance is everything now,” Steiner told BlackBook Motorsport. “Everybody is trying to get the performance, get up in the standings, and get the [prize] money from the results, not the sponsors.

“It’s easier to get sponsors these days when [the series is] successful, so you don’t need the charisma anymore. I think a lot of people try that way. But I don’t know if it’s intentional that people take the less charismatic [option] or if they see what is the best [choice] to make them successful.”

While the 59-year-old clarified that it will always remain difficult to finalise sponsorships in Formula One, he can only see this trend continuing in the future.

He concluded: “As long as the sport can continue this popularity, in the end it’s a numbers game. If you get the exposure, you invest money in marketing and you need to invest it where you get return on investment. At the moment, return on investment in F1 for sponsors is pretty good.”

Steiner was talking at an event unveiling his partnership with US-based Buffalo Trace, where the whiskey maker welcomed guests at its first brand home outside the US in Covent Garden, London.