Lewis Hamilton would be an eight-time Formula 1 World Champion had the late Charlie Whiting still been at the helm of F1’s governing body, the FIA, according to former team boss Guenther Steiner.
Steiner, who was fired as Haas team boss at the beginning of the 2024 F1 season, is due to release his second book entitled “Unfiltered”, in which he goes into detail of his time spent running the Anglo-American outfit.
The Italian has a long history in F1, having first been involved with the Jaguar team during its transformation into Red Bull before a brief stint in NASCAR. He then joined forces with American billionaire Gene Haas to set up an American team.
Steiner discusses his past in his first book, Surviving to Drive, which became a best seller thanks to his F1 fame, which he largely owes to the Netflix ‘Drive to Survive’ series in which he was often featured.
But following his exit from Haas in January of this year, he turned his attention to penning a new title which is released later this month.
In a preview of the book, Steiner looks back at his decade with Haas and other important moments in F1 during that time. One of which is the passing of former FIA F1 race director Whiting.
Whiting was an incredibly important figure in F1 having overseen huge advances in safety as well as regulating the races and how the rules were applied up until his sudden passing in 2019.
Eight Titles for Hamilton
He was replaced by Michael Masi who oversaw the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale in which Max Verstappen was crowned champion after beating Hamilton to victory.
Steiner described the decision and aftermath as a “shit show” and believes had Whiting still been in that position, it would have played out entirely differently.
“Wherever your loyalties lie with that one (and yes, I agree, it was amazing entertainment), from a regulations point of view it was a shit show of biblical proportions,” he wrote.
“Regardless of what decision Charlie Whiting might have made in Michael Masi’s position, there would have been far less controversy and embarrassment.”
Never one to shy away from making controversial comments, Steiner declared the result would have fallen in Hamilton’s favour had the rules been applied by Whiting, not Masi.
“Oh, fok it. We all know what Charlie would have done,” Steiner continued. “Had he been at the helm Lewis would now be an eight-time world champion.”
An FIA investigation after the race found that Masi had incorrectly applied the regulations, attributing it to “human error”. Masi was later removed from his position at the FIA as a result before leaving to return to his native Australia.
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