Guenther Steiner says £5.1m-a-year race winner will never be a Formula 1 world champion

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Every driver on the Formula 1 grid dreams of becoming world champion one day.

Only three drivers still on the grid, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen, have won the drivers’ championship thus far.

There’s a very good chance that a fourth name is added to that list, with Oscar Piastri leading Lando Norris by 25 points with seven race weekends to go, and Verstappen needing to overhaul a 69-point deficit to win a fifth title on the bounce.

Many drivers are gambling on their current teams nailing the upcoming regulation changes to put themselves in contention next season.

Charles Leclerc is reportedly considering leaving Ferrari to try and challenge for his first title, while George Russell is still negotiating with Mercedes over a new contract to put himself in the strongest position possible going into the next era of the sport.

However, there are some drivers who it seems hard to imagine that they’ll ever be in a title battle.

Ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner has identified one driver he’s unsure will ever make it.

That’s despite the fact that they’re already a Grand Prix winner.

READ MORE: Haas driver Esteban Ocon’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Guenther Steiner predicts that Haas driver Esteban Ocon will never win an F1 world championship

Steiner was asked on the FanCode YouTube channel who is the most overrated driver on the current grid, and he answered: “I don’t think there’s anybody overrated.

“There are quite a few where we need to see if they’re world championship material, like Kimi Antonelli. I think he’s doing a good job, but is he a future world champion? I don’t know yet.

“I wouldn’t say that he is overrated because nobody said he would be a world champion.

“And obviously he’s a good driver, but otherwise, at the moment, there is nobody really there where I say… you’ve got like a few drivers like Esteban Ocon, he’s been there a long time, so will he be a world champion?

“I don’t think so, but he’s a good driver as well. I would agree with fans, there are no bad drivers at the moment.”

Esteban Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix for Alpine, but joined Haas at the start of this season.

The Frenchman, who is on a £5.1m-a-year contract, is unlikely to be challenging for race wins at F1’s smallest team, who are still waiting to achieve their first podium.

Ocon spent time learning from Hamilton at Mercedes as a youngster, but never convinced Toto Wolff that he deserved a race seat with the Silver Arrows, where he might have been in a position to challenge for a title.

READ MORE: All to know about Haas F1 Team from team principal to Ferrari and Toyota ties

Guenther Steiner reaffirms his ‘issue’ with Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll

Steiner has admitted in the past that he’s unsure about Lance Stroll’s attitude, despite approaching a decade of racing in Formula 1.

After being asked about F1’s potentially overrated drivers and referring to Antonelli and Ocon, he moved on to Stroll and said: “A lot of people have issues with Lance Stroll, but I don’t have an issue with his driving.

“Maybe, I would have an issue with his attitude and conducting himself towards the fans, towards the people who support the sport.

“But as a driver, he’s not a bad driver. I mean, it’s just like his attitude.

“If he’s not in a good car, he’s just like, ‘OK, I don’t want to be here.’”

Steiner then suggests fans might see the ‘real Lance Stroll’ next year if Adrian Newey can build a strong enough Aston Martin for the 2026 regulations.

Newey has been positively surprised by Stroll since starting to work at Aston Martin, but all eyes will be on the Canadian next year if the Silverstone-based team suddenly have a competitive car.