Why Steiner prefers his Haas F1 drivers to have “nowhere to hide”

Never one to hold back on his true feelings, Steiner can sometimes be pretty brutal when it comes to speaking out about any errors that he, his team and especially his drivers have made in the heat of competition. It’s part of his personality and, far from a boring corporate boss who just spouts PR lines, it has made him a must-speak-to figure in the paddock.

But that is not to say there isn’t a downside to his willingness to tell things exactly how he sees them, because sometimes in life the truth hurts. Criticise individuals too much in public and it can dent morale. Speak down about your drivers too often and it can only serve to heap more pressure on them when perhaps they need as much support as possible.

It was that fine balancing act that Steiner had to judge earlier in the year, when Mick Schumacher endured a run of high-profile crashes as he chased his first F1 points. Steiner did his best to keep pressure off the young German’s shoulders as criticisms were aimed at him from outside, but equally was not afraid to let it be known that he was unhappy with how things were playing out on track.

Some harsh words said about Schumacher after his Monaco accident certainly raised some eyebrows as potentially going too far, but through it all Steiner is clear that it’s better to speak the truth even if sometimes it gets him in hot water.

“I think there’s nowhere to hide here,” says Steiner, speaking to Autosport about his management style. “I would rather deal with the truth and deal with the consequences, than not tell the full truth, and then have to deal with: ‘I said, he said, what is real?’

“This way, what I say is true and people believe me, because that is what I tell them. And we deal with it and get better. When you have a bad race, you can learn not to do it wrong. It’s the same thing here.”

Steiner is aware that tough words can be read by the individuals involved, and feelings may be hurt, but he is clear that he never intends to deliberately upset anyone within his team.

“Obviously, it’s always difficult not to hurt any person when you do this, and that is my aim,” he says. “But sometimes a driver, and they are at the front end, if they do a mistake, like when Mick crashes a car, I cannot say: ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m pretty happy about it.’

“No, I need…