Guenther Steiner hits out at Lewis Hamilton for Hungarian GP comments: “Attitude of giving up”

Guenther Steiner has criticised Lewis Hamilton’s self-deprecating remarks during the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has hit out at Lewis Hamilton’s comments during the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion told the media that he was “useless” after qualifying 12th for the race at the Hungaroring and that Ferrari should consider a new driver. When asked to clarify his remarks following a 12th-place finish, Hamilton said that there were things happening in the background that were “not great”.

Steiner discussed Hamilton’s comments on The Red Flags Podcast, where he criticised the British driver for having the “wrong attitude”.

“I mean, how can you come out being seven-time world champion saying ‘I’m useless’? It’s not his performance, I do not care about that – I’m not going into his performance,” Steiner explained.

“He’s struggling. At some stage in our life, we all struggle a little bit. I mean I still struggle, I always struggle, but coming out and saying ‘oh I’m useless’, I think that’s the wrong attitude. For me, I don’t like the attitude of giving up.

“It’s an attitude that people should feel sorry for you. But for me, it’s like if I’m a seven-time world champion, I’ve got enough confidence that I know that I’m not useless. I just need to work harder and go back to get my mojo back.

“It’s one of these things, but coming out saying ‘I’m useless’ for me it was a little bit … I mean a few weeks ago you were sitting down with engineers telling them what to do, and now you’re coming back and saying ‘I’m useless’. Just focus on what you are good at, which is driving a race car, because he’s good, he’s a seven-time world champion.”

Guenther Steiner, Miami Grand Prix Ambassador

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur defended Hamilton’s comments following the race, with the Frenchman suggesting that they came from a place of frustration and do not represent demotivation.

“I don’t need to motivate him. He’s frustrated, but not demotivated, you know, it’s a completely different story,” Vasseur said after the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“I can perfectly understand the situation, and you can… sometimes you are making comments on what the driver [is] saying to the car, but you put the microphone on some other sportsman in football, and so not sure that it would be much better.

“You know that they are in the performance and sometimes they are making comments even when they jump out of the car. I can understand the frustration… we are all frustrated.

“Sometimes just after the race, or just after the quali, you are very disappointed, and the reaction, the first reaction, is off. But we all know that we are pushing in the same direction. The good side of today is that if we are putting everything, when we are putting everything together, we are able to do the pole position and lead the first 40 laps.”