Dozens of fans are running towards the entrance of the paddock of the Montmeló circuit. Who has arrived? Maybe it’s Fernando Alonso or Carlos Sainz. Maybe it’s Max Verstappen, maybe Lewis Hamilton. Maybe it’s Charles Leclerc or Checo Pérez. “It’s Guenther!” How? “I’m still surprised. When a fan shouts my name in the street, I still think: How do I know that guy? Is he a friend of my daughter’s? Ah, no! He’s seen the documentary,” says Guenther Steiner in a conversation with EL MUNDO after presenting his book Sobrevivir a toda velocidad (Surviving at full speed). A year in Formula 1 (Principal, 2023). As team boss of one of the worst on the grid, Haas, he has achieved fame thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive, which highlights his character, his humor, his naturalness and, why not tell him, his tacos.

How does he carry the fame?I don’t carry it, I don’t do anything different. Most of the time it’s fun, but it takes some getting used to.. More so when I’m with my family. The first time I heard the crowd chanting “Guenther, Guenther!” I was walking around the pitlane with my daughter and I was embarrassed. I was looking at people as if to say, “Please stop. “You haven’t seen the Netflix documentary.Your family has?My wife has seen it and I think my daughter has too. I don’t ask them just in case.Shall I explain something funny? Before the first season came out, the crew’s press people saw it, explained some scenes to me and told me I could ask to have them deleted. I told them, “Leave them, nothing will happen”. And the next thing was to land in Australia and there was a group of fans there with my face on their T-shirts.You like the image of you projected on the TV.Yes, it’s me, I don’t act. I don’t dislike the whole phenomenon, even if sometimes I feel weird. People have fun and that’s fine.. A few years ago I left Formula 1, I created my own company, we settled in the United States, I didn’t travel much and I didn’t miss it because I enjoyed it. Now, back in the World Championship, it’s the same thing. The problem is not traveling, the problem would be having a boring job.This season, Haas, with Magnussen and Hulkenberg, is ahead of Alfa Romeo, Alpha-Tauri and Williams. Are you happy?I’m never happy (laughs). It’s a very interesting year for Formula 1 because behind Red Bull we are sitting teams on very similar times. I would like to fight for podiums, to be further ahead, but every Sunday we fight for points and that’s something to be happy about, also Fernando Alonso’s return to the top. It is unbelievable. We all know that Alonso is one of the best drivers, if not the best. He sees things that others don’t see, he has a lot of experience, he’s very intelligent. But what impresses me the most is that he can stay like this at his age.. It is winning the race as time passes.