F1 and Netflix's Guenther Steiner's Regent show reviewed

The former team principal was joined on stage by friend and ghostwriter of his books, James Hogg, who was there to guide the audience through the life and career of one of F1's most recognisable figures in recent years.

Not only was his trademark humour and impressive use of swearing on show, he delicately took us through the realities of running an F1 team that in his tenure was plagued by budget constraints, questionable ownership, problems with drivers, a worldwide pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

The show was a perfect opportunities for F1 fans to get close to key figure of the sport in recent years (Image: Oli Picton) For the sake of full transparency, it is worth noting that I am a lifelong F1 fan who is mildly obsessed with the sport. However, my partner isn't, and she was able to provide the perspective of someone who has entered the sport in the last few years. 

As we grabbed our drinks and entered the theatre, the stage was set with two chairs and a barrel of the sponsors' whiskey, and after a slightly jarring welcoming clip from Gordon Ramsay the show got underway.

To start the show there was an introduction to Hogg and his connection to Steiner. The man himself then came out to rapturous applause from the audience and took his seat next to the host.

From there, Hogg began the questions focusing on the Italian's early life and interest in motorsport, even featuring photos of a young Steiner with a typical '80s quiff.

The start of the show featured a bizarre greeting from Gordon Ramsay, leaving the audience and host equally confused (Image: Oli Picton) The 58-year-old grew to more wider fame through Netflix's behind-the-scenes documentary series, Drive to Survive, which showcased Steiner's wit, bluntness and the love of everything profane.

That certainly wasn't missing from the show, having us laughing from start to finish. 

Moving on from the start of his career working for the Mazda rally team in the late 1980s, Steiner found himself working with the Ford World Rally Team working with rally legends, Carlos Sainz Snr and Colin McRae.

Hogg then approached the topic his relationship with Niki Lauda, the triple world champion who managed Ford's Jaguar F1 team and brought Steiner into the team as managing director.

Lauda, who died in 2019, is fondly remembered by F1 fans and Steiner shared a story where the Austrian found himself in a vicious tussle with a Japanese taxi driver who was driving poorly.

The tour is in support of Steiner's new book, Unfiltered (Image: Oli Picton) After leaving the team after Lauda's dismissal and a brief stint at Jaguar's successor team Red Bull, which was not the championship operation it is today, the two spoke about the Italian's vital role in setting up Haas F1 team in the early 2010s.

With Steiner running the whole ship and financial backing from Gene Haas, Haas F1 team got onto the grid in 2016 and scored points on its debut. The years with Haas were difficult, having a budget a tenth of the size of the biggest manufacturers, but Steiner drew the best performance from a team that was using of the shelf parts. 

Then coming into the 2020 season, Steiner recalled the need to keep moral up and his imperative role in introducing F1's budget cap, so that the smaller teams would survive the pandemic, without ever coming across as arrogant. 

The remains of Romain Grosjean's car after his fiery crash in 2020 (Image: Wikimedia Commons) There was also the moment of Romain Grosjean's 2020 crash in Bahrain, where the Frenchman was engulfed in flames and there were fears of the worst, which he recalled in uncomfortable detail. Turning to the audience, an F1 doctor was in attendance, who Steiner and the audience paid tribute to. 

Towards the end of his tenure with Haas, Steiner also had to contend with unpopular driver Nikita Mazepin, whose father Dimitri was a close ally of Vladimir Putin and eventually he had to take the decision to split from the pair after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The show concluded with him speaking about his rather passiveness to the news that he would no longer be the team principal coming into the 2024 season and a quick Q&A session with the audience. 

The show was the first of the UK tour (Image: Oli Picton)

This was billed as 'What's next for Guenther Steiner?' - but the show didn't approach his future at all. It was a fantastic look back one of the sport's most interesting characters but it wasn't what many thought it would be.

Overall though the show was really funny, very insightful and managed excellently, with the two approaching uncomfortable topics with the sensitivity it deserved and well worth it but fell a little short.