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Surviving to Drive

Surviving to Drive

A Year Inside Formula 1

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

'People talk about football managers being under pressure. Trust me, that's nothing. Pressure is watching one of your drivers hit a barrier at 190mph and exploding before your eyes...'


Guenther Steiner is one of motor racing's biggest and most celebrated characters, known to millions for his show-stealing appearances on Netflix's hugely popular fly on the wall series, Drive to Survive.

In Surviving to Drive, the Haas team principal takes readers inside his Formula 1 team for the entirety of the 2022 season, giving an unobstructed view of what really takes place behind the scenes. Through this unique lens, Guenther takes us on the thrilling rollercoaster of life at the heart of high stakes motor racing.

Packed full of twists and turns, from hiring and firing drivers, balancing books, pre-season preparations, the design, launch and testing of a car - and of course, the race calendar itself - this is the first time that an F1 team has allowed an acting team principal to tell the full story of a whole season.

Uncompromising and searingly honest, told in Steiner's inimitable style, this is a fascinating and hugely entertaining account of the realities of running a Formula 1 team.

©2023 Guenther Steiner (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Reviews

  • Fearless and candid, Surviving to Drive reads like the night-time confessions of a football manager who is fighting to stay in the Premier League. A gleeful guide to a bonkers sport from a loveable rogue insider.
    Melanie Reid, The Times

About the author

Guenther Steiner

Guenther Steiner is a motorsport team manager and former mechanic hailing from Merano in northern Italy. From 2014 to the end of 2023 he was the team principal of the Haas Formula One Team, having previously been managing director of Jaguar Racing and technical operations director of its subsequent incarnation, Red Bull Racing. In 2014, Guenther persuaded Gene Haas, owner of Haas Automation and NASCAR championship winning team Stewart-Haas Racing, to enter Formula 1.

With their entry in the 2016 season, Haas became the first American constructor to compete in F1 in 30 years. The team took eight points at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix with a 6th-place finish, becoming the first American entry, and the first constructor overall since Toyota Racing in 2002, to score in their debut race. Steiner is also a prominent figure in the cast of the successful Netflix series Drive to Survive.
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