{"id":283334,"date":"2025-11-14T21:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283334\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T21:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T21:17:11","slug":"guenther-steiner-slams-john-elkann-for-poor-leadership-after-public-ferrari-driver-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/283334\/","title":{"rendered":"Guenther Steiner slams John Elkann for ‘poor leadership’ after public Ferrari driver criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner called out Ferrari<\/a> chairman John Elkann for his public criticism of Formula 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and Charles Leclerc<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following a disappointing Brazilian Grand Prix, which resulted in the Maranello outfit slipping from second to fourth in the constructors’ standings, Elkann told Sky Sports Italy that Hamilton and Leclerc needed to spend more time driving and less time talking.<\/p>\n

“Brazil was a big disappointment,” he said. “Looking at the Formula 1 championship, we can say that we have our mechanics, who are basically winning the championship with their performance and everything that has been done on the pitstops. Our engineers have undoubtedly improved the car. But when it comes to the rest, it is still not up to par.<\/p>\n

“And surely we have drivers who need to focus on driving and talk less. We still have important races ahead of us, and it is not impossible to achieve second place [in the constructors]. This is the most important message, because Bahrain itself is the demonstration that, when everyone at Ferrari works together, we win.”<\/p>\n

The comments have drawn reactions from many within the industry, including Steiner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is allowed to critique because in the end he\u2019s the boss, but I think he shouldn\u2019t do that in public,\u201d Steiner explained during an appearance on The Red Flags Podcast<\/a>. \u201cWith Lewis, you know\u2026 But Charles, the guy puts his heart and soul into this, everything. What more do you want from Charles?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not showing good leadership to say, \u2018This guy is doing it right, the mechanics are good, the engineers are good, but you guys are bad\u2019 in public. And no comment about Fred. I find it weird to say the least, to make a comment like this, from a person at that level of the company, the highest level. He doesn\u2019t have to ask anybody to do it or not to do it.<\/p>\n

\"Lewis <\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari<\/p>\n

Photo by: Ferrari<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you have nothing good to say, say nothing in that position. Obviously, they won the sportscar championship, which congratulations, but you cannot compare the two championships. You still need to win it and I respect that they won it, it\u2019s very cool, but in the end it\u2019s a Balance of Performance championship. Formula 1 is a different kettle of fish.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not downgrading what they won in sportscars, but to say \u2018see what it\u2019s possible to do\u2019\u2026 yeah\u2026 how about helping it to make it happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Haas chief also called Elkann out for criticising drivers he had a part in signing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, who decided the drivers? Sometimes you have to look in the mirror. For sure he agreed to hire Lewis, that\u2019s my understanding,\u201d Steiner continued. \u201cI critiqued this guy but I picked him, maybe I\u2019ve done something wrong. If he made the wrong decision, if he feels so.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what they [Hamilton and Leclerc] said. I don\u2019t get it. Maybe he was a little bit emotional when he said it, they won the [WEC] championship and didn\u2019t even get in the points, both cars dropped out in Brazil, can you imagine how disappointed he was? Maybe he was a bit p***ed off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

We want your opinion!<\/p>\n

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?<\/p>\n

Take our 5 minute survey.<\/a><\/p>\n

– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner called out Ferrari chairman John Elkann for his public criticism of Formula…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[120293,49,48,3025,578,930,576,577,128767,932,120292,82,4962],"class_list":{"0":"post-283334","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-autu00f3dromo-josu00e9-carlos-pace","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-charles-leclerc","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-ferrari","14":"tag-formula-1","15":"tag-formula1","16":"tag-guenther-steiner-slams-john-elkann-for-poor-leadership-after-public-ferrari-driver-criticism","17":"tag-lewis-hamilton","18":"tag-sao-paulo-gp","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-trendingteam"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}