After the success of his first book about Formula 1 last year, former Haas team boss Günther Steiner is working on a sequel together with ghostwriter James Hogg. Steiner confirms this to “Motorsport.com”.
“We are currently working on the second book,” says the 58-year-old. He and Hogg had already begun their second collaboration when Steiner hit the headlines earlier this month after being fired by team owner Gene Haas, giving their work a potential new focus.
“This (book; editor’s note) was already planned beforehand. Now the story might change a bit!” says the former Haas team boss.
He started his first book, “Surviving to Drive,” after being approached by ghostwriter Hogg. He had previously worked on projects with racing greats such as Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and Jason Plato.
The book was initially published in the UK by Penguin Random House and told the inside story of the Haas team in the 2022 Formula 1 season, while also touching on earlier episodes in Steiner’s career.
It has sold around 150,000 copies so far and has been published in twelve languages. A British paperback version is due to be published in March this year.
Steiner really enjoyed his involvement in the first project and, among other things, gave book signings in bookstores. “It was a completely new experience,” he admits. “And I learned a lot about how some industries work, how things are done, because I’ve never experienced anything like that before.”
Formula 1: “I really enjoyed it”
“In fact, I really enjoyed working with the author. He’s a cool guy, we had a lot of fun. And as he said, he had a lot of fun working with me too. There was never any pressure: ‘We have to make that.’ “It all developed quite organically,” enthuses Steiner.
He denies that the time he spent on the book or his appearances in the Netflix hit “Drive to Survive” distracted him from his duties at Haas.
“I think people overestimate how much of a distraction that is. Because it’s not really a big distraction from the day-to-day job. Of course you have to work more on the race weekends. But I didn’t have 20 sponsorship appearances per weekend, for example, but maybe maximum three.”
“It’s not like it distracts me, nor does writing the book. Of course a ghostwriter does that for you,” explains Steiner. “Now I have more time, but even now we do two half-hour sessions a week. One on Tuesday and one on Friday. That’s all I do, he does the rest.”
“Sure you talk to each other, but it’s not like I talk to him for days. I know some people have talked to these people for days, but I haven’t. So I don’t think that’s a big factor,” affirmed he.
And the ex-Haas team boss adds: “I think the team benefited from it more than anything else because it got a lot of sponsors.”