Lewis Hamilton Under Fire For Calling Himself 'Useless' As Guenther Steiner Speaks Out
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Former Haas Formula One team principal Guenther Steiner has called out Lewis Hamilton for calling himself "useless" after the Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying session. Hamilton was knocked out of Q2, which prompted him to speak in a dejected state.
The race weekend at the Hungaroring was an event for Ferrari to forget after Hamilton secured the 12th position in qualifying. Unfortunately, he didn't recover places during the race, eventually finishing in P12.
His teammate Charles Leclerc secured a remarkable pole position by outperforming the dominant McLarens, but a suspected chassis problem on his SF-25 F1 car mid-race led him to finish in P4. What made headlines, though, was Hamilton's statement after qualifying. Speaking to the media, the seven-time world champion said:
"It's just me every time. I'm useless, absolutely useless. Team has no problem, you've seen the car's on pole.
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Ferrari walks in the paddock during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary.
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Ferrari walks in the paddock during the F1 Grand Prix of Hungary at Hungaroring on August 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary."They probably need to change driver."
Steiner, who is known for his candid opinions, said he didn't like Hamilton's "attitude of giving up." He said on The Red Flags Podcast:
"How can you come out as being seven-time World Champion saying, I'm useless? That was, it's not his performance. I do not care about that. I'm not going into his performance. He's struggling. At some stage in our life, we all struggle a little bit.
"I still struggle, so I always struggle, but coming out and saying, 'oh, I'm useless'. That's the wrong attitude. And that is for me. I don't like the attitude of giving up, you know, or it's an attitude that people should feel sorry for you."
He added:
"For me, it's like if I'm seven times World Champion, I've got enough confidence that I know that I'm not useless. I just need to work harder and going back to get my mojo back. It's one of these things.
"A few weeks ago, [Hamilton was] sitting down the engineers telling them what to do and now you're coming back and saying, 'I'm useless'.
"It's just focus on what you're good at, which is driving a race car, because he's good. He's a seven-time World Champion.
"That's the wrong attitude. Just feeling sorry for yourself."
Considering Hamilton's racing prowess, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali backed him for an eighth championship title with Ferrari following the setback faced in Hungary. He said:
"Lewis is a jewel, an incredible athlete. So no matter if it is a difficult moment, he will react, and I am pretty sure he will show the reason why he is here.
"He wants to achieve his 8th title, and he will triumph again. So stay with Lewis and he will do a great race, and be very, very strong after the summer season."
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