Review of "Surviving to Drive"

This is another example of a book that I am glad that I chose the audio version instead of the print or electronic version.  Guenther Steiner's humor and colorful language made this book a fun listen - I doubt it would have been as good just reading it.  It's a shame he left F1 before the 2024 season.  Here is my review of "Surviving to Drive." 

 

Title/Author:

“Surviving to Drive” written and narrated by Guenther Steiner

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Buoyed by the popularity of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”, Formula 1 (F1) racing has enjoyed a surge in popularity and one of the personalities who fans both old and young alike is Guenther Steiner.  This audiobook written and narrated by Steiner is a very good recap of his 2022 F1 season with the Haas team.

Haas is one of the smaller teams in F1 and doesn’t have the same amount of money, resources, or personnel that some of the bigger teams do like McLaren or Red Bull Racing.  Nonetheless, they make do with what they have in order to compete and earn points each week on the circuit and Steiner’s stories give the reader/listener great insight into the workings and issues faced by a team of this size.

There is plenty of material on the two main drivers for Haas that year, Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher (son of legendary driver Michael Schumacher), as well as Haas and of course, Steiner himself.  His unfiltered recall of the races, trials and tribulations of his team are great reading.  The audio version, which I listened to, was even better as you can tell through Guenther’s voice when he was elated, or he was frustrated.  

His insight and language (not the accent, but also the colorful words he used which are not safe for children) make the stories even better.  This is especially true about the days between races.  Whether it was a story about the travel, the amount of work to get the cars ready or just venting, Steiner made the recollection of a F1 season very entertaining.

Link: Surviving to Drive by Guenther Steiner - Audiobook - Audible.com