Steiner not worried by 'Drive to Survive' depiction

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Haas F1 Team boss Gunther Steiner insists he's not worried by how he's depicted in the Netflix Formula 1 behind the scenes documentary Drive to Survive which launched its third season on Friday.

Steiner's forthright personality has made him one of the unexpected breakout stars of previous seasons of the show.

But while other figures on the paddock such as Max Verstappen have expressed their unhappiness at how they've come across in the final edit, Steiner says he's not concerned provided that the basic depiction is truthful - even if it is sensationalised to some degree.

Read also: The full trailer is here for Drive to Survive - Season 3!

"As long as stories told there are not completely wrong," he told Motorsport.com this week. "I didn't hear that, actually that it's untrue.

"Maybe sensationalised a little bit, but otherwise I don't think much is changed in principle, at least that's how I understand it," he added. "We know filmmakers, they get the best they can out of it. That's pretty clear."

He admitted that he hasn't watched a single episode of the show - and has no intention of doing so.

"I don't know how they managed the stuff, that's why I don't have much of an opinion about it," he said. "I don't know how much was played up, and therefore I'm not with those who are critical about it."

While he might not watch the finished product, Steiner could hardly fail to notice the film crews at work around the garage and paddock during the course of the season.

That was especially the case in 2020 when coronavirus safety protocols required the film crews to embed themselves within the teams to an unprecedented extent.

"They are just integrated into the team for the weekend," he commented. "They behave the way you don't even notice them after a while. They become part of your daily life.

"That's why there aren't really any problems, they're all super nice people. They just do their job.

"Sometimes you have a microphone above you and you don't even notice it, but otherwise you know exactly when they're filming and when you're not.

"The only thing they sometimes do [is] you get a microphone so they have a better audio," he added. "But you know exactly what they're doing, there's no surprise there."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.