Guenther Steiner's infamously sharp wit was on full display as the Haas team boss spoke at a fan event ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
Steiner's main focus is always on his role as team principal of Haas. But it is not his work which has endeared him to millions of Formula 1 fans around the world – his personality is what has shone through and been amplified by the Netflix Drive to Survive series.
The 57-year-old wears his heart on his sleeve and is as prone to angry, expletive-laden rants as he is to cracking jokes when in a more mischievous mood. That latter part was very much on display as he turned out for that fan event in Melbourne.
A young boy named Noah learned that when he was given the opportunity to ask a question. Wearing a Red Bull Racing cap, the young Aussie boy asked Steiner which of his two drivers was his favourite.
Perhaps knowing he could not answer that questions, the Haas boss took the opportunity to crack a joke. With a grin, he replied: "Ask your mum, who does she like better, you or your brother?"
As expected, it drew a large swell of laughter from the audience who enjoyed the opportunity to experience Steiner's wit first-hand. Haas even posted a clip of the exchange on social media, much to the delight of online F1 fans.
Haas scored their first point of the 2023 season last time out at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as Kevin Magnussen got the better of Yuki Tsunoda in the latter stages to take 10th place. Nico Hulkenberg is pointless after his first two races with the team, but Steiner is still happy with what he has seen from the German so far.
He told reporters: "I think he has given us what we were looking for and we could see it immediately. I mean, Kevin struggled in qualifying, Nico didn't. But Kevin is not upset about it. Actually, he is pretty happy that Nico didn't struggle, because he knows he just needs to get there.
"Otherwise, it was like, 'what is wrong here?'. To be qualified 15th and 18th, it's just like a disaster. But we got into Q3 pretty, pretty strong [in Bahrain]. So Kevin knows it's there. He just needs to get there."
