Guenther Steiner will return to the F1 paddock sooner t꧂han expected in a new pu🌳nditry role for German TV.

The popular Italian left his ⛦position as Haas team principal at the end of a difficult 2023 season after the American outfit opted against💦 extending his contract for the new campaign.

S✤teiner, who gained cult status in F1 thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, will be back in the paddock at the season-open✱ing Bahrain Grand Prix in his new TV role.

He has signed up to appear as a pundit at seven race weekends for German bro✅adcaster RTL.

RTL confirmed the new role will start at next weekend♐’s Bahrai𓃲n Grand Prix.

RTL p🎐rogramme head Inga Leschek said: “With Guenther Steiner, we have managed to get a long-time manager and Formula 1 insider directly from the paddock in front of the RTL microphones, who will enrich our live broadcasts with current insights and plain text.”

Steiner added: “Formula 1 is competition at the highest level, on the racetrack and inဣ the paddock.

“How should the drivers’ performa♐nce be evaluated and what does that mean for the organisations behind them? I look forward to examining these processes with this strong on-air team and sharing my analyses of the racing events.”

It remains to be seen if Steiner will return to the 🌳F1 paddock on a full-time basis i♊n the future.

Steiner admitted he had b📖een “stung” by not having the chance to say a proper farewell🅠 at Haas, but insisted he was in no rush to return to F1. 

"If there's something interesting and which challenges me, yes, but just looking fo♑r a job just to stay in F1, maybe that's not what I want," he said.