Guenther Steiner issues Ferrari with team orders warning to keep F1 title hopes alive

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has urged Ferrari to back Lewis Hamilton over Charles Leclerc if it is serious about winning a world championship this season. 

Ferrari’s lack of team orders and internal dynamic came into the spotlight at the Dutch Grand Prix after differing strategies resulted in Hamilton and Leclerc costing each other time. 

Hamilton was left frustrated with Ferrari’s indecisiveness and failure to move Leclerc out of the way, which the seven-time world champion felt cost him a potential podium and vital world championship points as he took fourth, just ahead of his team-mate. 

In contrast, Mercedes acted decisively to swap its drivers around when they were running on contrasting strategies at Zandvoort. 

The result saw Hamilton fall 59 points adrift of championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli with 11 scheduled races remaining this year. 

"You cannot implement team orders during a race," Steiner told The Red Flags podcast. "You need to agree them beforehand. The realistic thing is, can Charles really win the world championship? Maybe not. And who is in front? Lewis.

"I haven't done the calculations of how realistic it is for him to win the world championship, but if one of the two can win, it is Lewis. So, as somebody else has shown, if you want to win, it's very tight up front there. You need to put your money on the guy who has got the better chance.

"That's the guy in front, who has got more points, and that is the only selling point to Charles. 'Hey buddy, your team-mate has done better up to now. Now he's number one.’"

Can Lewis Hamilton win an eighth title this year? 

Steiner believes Hamilton still has a “small chance” of winning a record eighth world title with Ferrari this season, providing two things happen. 

"There need to be two things for Lewis to win the championship, the eighth one, and I think that would be a great moment for the sport, somebody winning eight championships,” he added. 

"Kimi needs to make some mistakes. If Kimi stays clean, it will be very difficult to do, but Kimi is young and Mercedes has trouble with the car sometimes, mechanical issues.

"At some stage, Ferrari needs to put everything behind Lewis if they are serious about winning it because he's in front of Charles, so he should get the support. 

"I think Fred will be doing that and saying, 'Hey guys, we need to put our money on one of the guys and not try to have papaya rules here.' They need the help of Kimi and Mercedes as well. Otherwise, it will be very difficult.”