Montoya told Steiner about Magnussen

Juan Pablo Montoya was the first to tell Haas boss Gunther Steiner about Kevin Magnussen’s talent.

Magnussen joined the American team after stints at McLaren and Renault. But Haas boss Steiner says he first heard about the Danish driver from former F1 winner Montoya.

"Kevin is friends with Juan Pablo," Steiner told BT newspaper.

"One day when Juan Pablo and I were in Mexico, he asked me ’Have you looked at Kevin Magnussen? He is very good’.

"I knew his father but when I met Kevin, he asked where I had heard of him and he told me he doesn’t know Montoya at all," Steiner laughed.

In the new F1 documentary on Netflix, Steiner emerges as a particularly tough team boss.

Steiner agrees: "I tell him (Magnussen) what I think, even if he doesn’t want to hear it.

"It’s part of life. If I am dissatisfied I say it, and if they have anything to say, they can say it also," he added.

For instance, Steiner was furious after the botched pitstops in Melbourne last year.

"We have trained hard and we practiced every day while they built the car at Dallara," he said. "We will do better this year."

Magnussen, though, is not getting his hopes up about a podium.

"It’s not realistic, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen," he said.