Guenther Steiner believes Lewis Hamilton should respond to Ferrari’s latest difficulties with a more positive approach after the seven-time Formula 1 world champion publicly raised concerns about the team’s communication and internal decision-making following the Italian Grand Prix.
Hamilton endured another frustrating afternoon at Monza, dropping down the order after an opening-lap battle with Charles Leclerc before eventually finishing sixth. His team-mate later crashed out on Lap 3, completing a difficult home race for the Scuderia and prompting Hamilton to revisit an issue that has followed Ferrari since his arrival: how clearly the team communicates with and manages its two drivers.
Guenther Steiner challenges Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari approach
Speaking to Talksport, former Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner argued that Hamilton did not need to be as upset by the situation as he appeared after the race. Steiner suggested that the British driver has enough experience and influence inside Ferrari to address his concerns directly and expected the team to listen closely to the views of a seven-time world champion.
In Steiner’s view, Hamilton joined Ferrari partly because he wanted to help make the organisation better. For that reason, he believes the 41-year-old should concentrate on bringing a positive attitude to Maranello and helping to change processes he currently dislikes rather than allowing his frustration with them to dominate.
Steiner also acknowledged that Hamilton had already done considerable work during 2025 to push Ferrari in what he regarded as the right direction. His argument was therefore not that the Briton should stop challenging the team, but that he should channel his experience constructively as Ferrari attempts to improve.
Hamilton’s first season in red had already featured criticism surrounding communication and whether enough attention was being paid to his feedback. Those concerns resurfaced at Monza after another complicated race in which the seven-time world champion’s Ferrari campaign suffered a fresh setback.
Lewis Hamilton questioned Ferrari’s rules of engagement after Monza
The immediate trigger was Hamilton’s opening-lap fight with Charles Leclerc. At the first chicane, the Monegasque appeared to run his team-mate wide as Hamilton attempted to challenge around the outside, sending the Briton down the order and leaving him with significant ground to recover.
Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard subsequently sided against Hamilton in the debate over the incident. Coulthard argued that the Ferrari driver had not learned from his experience in 2021 when attempting to make a move around the outside of Turn 2. The assessment of Hamilton’s Monza move therefore differed sharply from the frustration subsequently expressed by the British driver.
Hamilton nevertheless focused heavily on Ferrari’s internal procedures when he spoke to the media after the race. He referred to his years at Mercedes, where the drivers operated under written rules of engagement, and contrasted that system with the current situation at Maranello.
The Briton indicated that Ferrari’s approach needed to be discussed and suggested that those conversations had to involve team principal Fred Vasseur and senior figures within the organisation. His concerns over the absence of a clearly defined framework for racing Leclerc were already evident in his criticism of Ferrari’s rules of engagement following the Italian Grand Prix.
Steiner believes Hamilton has enough influence to drive change
Steiner’s response centres on Hamilton’s status within the team. Rather than seeing the current issues as a reason for the Ferrari driver to remain frustrated, the former team boss believes Hamilton’s experience gives him the authority to raise his concerns internally and push for changes.
There are already indications of how seriously Hamilton approaches that role behind the scenes. Piero Ferrari has compared elements of the Briton’s working style to Michael Schumacher, particularly the attention he gives to debriefing and his detailed interaction with engineers. Ferrari’s vice-chairman described Hamilton as highly attentive in that environment, reinforcing the impression of a driver deeply involved in the team’s development process. The comparison was explored further when Piero Ferrari discussed the Michael Schumacher trait he sees in Lewis Hamilton.
That makes Steiner’s message particularly relevant. Hamilton is clearly willing to push Ferrari hard behind closed doors, but the former Haas team principal believes that public frustration should not define his approach when he has the experience and standing to influence how the organisation works.
Ferrari title challenge suffers another blow at Monza
The wider championship situation only adds to the pressure. Hamilton acknowledged after Monza that Ferrari’s efforts to turn its season around are likely to come too late for his title challenge. His sixth-place finish left him 76 points behind Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who won the Italian Grand Prix after starting 19th.
That result significantly strengthened Antonelli’s championship position while leaving Hamilton with an increasingly difficult deficit to overturn. The latest Formula 1 driver standings underline the scale of the gap following the Italian round.
Hamilton is therefore trying to balance two objectives at once: extracting as much as possible from Ferrari’s current campaign while helping shape the team into the operation he believes it needs to become. Steiner accepts the value of that influence, but his message is that the seven-time world champion will achieve more by directing it through a constructive and positive approach at Maranello.
