Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has launched a scathing critique against Ferrari, arguing that the squad's persistent reluctance to acknowledge strategic errors is actively damaging their competitive performance on the track.
Speaking on The Red Flags Podcast, Guenther Steiner broke down the controversial strategy calls made during a chaotic grand prix weekend, where Ferrari opted to start both cars on soft slick tyres despite treacherous wet-weather conditions.
That major gamble instantly backfired when the lights went out, sending marquee signing Lewis Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc plummeting down the running order during the opening laps. Despite the disastrous start to the race, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc orchestrated remarkable recoveries from the back of the grid to salvage third and fourth place respectively.
Guenther Steiner pointed out that Ferrari's stubborn hesitancy to immediately swap to intermediate tyres—unlike McLaren which handled the situation decisively with Oscar Piastri—demonstrated an internal culture that fears admitting fault.
"At McLaren, it’s like, 'OK, I think we made the wrong decision, let’s fix it,'" Guenther Steiner stated. "At Ferrari, it’s, 'No, we need to show that we made the right decision, even if it's wrong, because we cannot admit that we made the wrong decision.' It’s not like the present that you discuss it, it’s just in the back of your head... 'OK, this must be the right decision, don’t change it, because otherwise I admit that it was wrong.'"
Lewis Hamilton, who qualified and started the race from second on the grid, revealed he experienced deeply mixed emotions after the checkered flag dropped. While genuinely thrilled to stand on the podium once more, the British driver could not stop pondering what might have been achievable had they started on intermediate rubber.
"It's a mixed emotion. On one side I'm really, really grateful to have got back to the podium," Lewis Hamilton told Sky Sports F1 after the race. "And then on the other side, obviously with the debates that we were having in the background, to then see the covers come off the car ahead and us on slicks, and the track being so tricky and dangerous at the beginning, it was definitely, yeah, my heart sank and I was kind of like, that's the race over."
"But then they were like, 'Should we stop?' And I was like, 'No, we've already made the decision, we have to live with it, and we'll stay out here until this bloody place dries.' And eventually it did, and then I just kept my head down, just kept pushing, just didn't give up," Lewis Hamilton continued.
"I definitely didn't expect to get back to P3. It's crazy to think we were over a minute down. And the track took so long to dry. As reported by Motorsport.com, the Italian outfit faces mounting scrutiny over its strategic agility as the championship battle intensifies," he concluded.
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