– Former Haas team principal Günther Steiner believes that Ferrari must set clear rules and give Lewis Hamilton priority over Charles Leclerc if the team from Maranello wants to stay in the fight for the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship.
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Ferrari’s internal dynamics came into focus after the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. Different strategies caused tensions between the two drivers there. Hamilton was on fresher tires and showed stronger pace but was held up behind Leclerc. The delay cost the seven-time world champion time and led to frustrated radio messages.
In The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner expresses the view that Ferrari failed to prepare its drivers for possible team order scenarios before the race: “You can’t implement team orders during a race. You have to agree on them beforehand,” he explains. “The realistic question is: Can Charles really win the championship? Maybe not. And who is ahead? Lewis.”
“I haven’t calculated how realistic it is for him to win the championship, but if one of the two can win, then it’s Lewis. As someone else has shown: If you want to win, it’s very tight up front. You have to bet on the one who has the better chances. That’s the one who is ahead, who has more points, and that’s the only selling point against Charles: ‘Hey buddy, your teammate has done better so far. Now he is number 1.'”
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Steiner emphasizes that it is the responsibility of team principal Frederic Vasseur to have this conversation: “Fred, that’s his job,” he says. “I don’t think John Elkann should or would interfere here, because if he interferes at this stage in something like this, then he has to lead the team. But I think Fred has it very much under control, because Fred has to win a world championship.”
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(Deepen this topic: On July 20, editor-in-chief Christian Nimmervoll wrote an opinion piece on this topic. Read it now!)
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