Guenther Steiner has given the Formula 1 paddock something it has been short on since the start of the 2026 season: an honest, non-catastrophising verdict on the new rules package, from someone no longer inside a team and with nothing to lose by saying what he thinks.
Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, the former Haas team principal – now CEO and owner of the KTM MotoGP squad – accepted that the regulations have landed imperfectly, but argued the sport's combination of engineering talent and enormous financial muscle will repair the damage during the current break. He also pointed to an emerging pattern that has gone relatively unremarked: the younger drivers are adapting faster than the established stars.
Steiner's headline line will travel. He was asked whether F1 could fix the 2026 package and responded with characteristic bluntness.
"I would say this, Formula 1 has got two things, has got good engineers, bright minds, and shitloads of money," Steiner said. "And the money, and the companies invest money. They are not throwing it up for fun. Because, in the normal world, you invest money and you need to see a return. The return in Formula 1 is being competitive and winning, so that for the people or the companies invest so much money to make it better. You've got these bright people, you've got money, and that is a very good starting point to solve problems out in life."
Before that, though, he was careful to frame the diagnosis. Steiner did not paper over the criticism the new era has attracted.
"It is difficult to find the right balance," he said. "Obviously, the regulations are there, and some of it is good, and some of it needs to be better. I call it like this. I wouldn't say it's bad, but I think anybody saying it's perfect at the moment, I wouldn't believe anybody trying to say that."
"But what I believe in is that Formula 1 will sort it out. I know how much. And as you said, there will be people now working really hard in this break, which was not the unplanned break. Basically, they will use that time to get around what is not working so perfect at the moment, trying to find solutions with FIA, with FOM, all the teams working together to find solution."
Steiner noted that the current lull in the calendar, far from being a holiday, is effectively a concentrated engineering sprint.
"But it is a big job. Normally, you would say, oh, it's a nice break in here. Nobody's got a break at the moment in that one, everybody's working harder than ever, even if they are not going racing, just to fix the issues which are there now," he said.
The more analytical section of his verdict concerned the drivers. Steiner observed that the 2026 regulations have shifted the required skill set – battery management, energy timing, steering-wheel complexity – and that younger drivers have handled the transition better than more seasoned ones.
"The key factor for me is like how the young drivers adapted to this," Steiner said. "You see all the young drivers, if you look at it, they adapted better than the seasoned drivers. Think about it, we were all amazed."
"But I think it has to do with the technology. They adjusted quicker and better to new technologies because they are fresh, or they don't have many bad habits yet, which they have to change."
On the competitive order, Steiner was unsurprised by Mercedes and Ferrari emerging as the teams to watch, and reserved particular praise for Audi's first full factory season as a power unit supplier.
"Mercedes, they have done a good job again. Is it unexpected? No, not really. Everybody expected that to happen. And Ferrari is good as well. So again that status, it was the two strongest teams. They will be always strong, you know," he said.
The importance of Steiner's intervention is less what he said than how he said it. At a moment when Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc and now IndyCar's Pato O'Ward have all attacked the 2026 product with some variation of the Mario Kart line, a former team principal with no allegiance stepping forward to say the fix is coming – and the sport has the money and brains to deliver it – is precisely the kind of balanced voice the paddock has been missing.
Source: grandprix247.com