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Guenther Steiner feels for Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll but says his lack of ‘patience’ will be his undoing. Stroll’s team are in a dire predicament at the bottom of the standings.
Back in 2022, the Canadian businessman promised that the team would be at ‘the top’ within five years. Just one year before that deadline, they are scoreless with five DNFs in three weekends.
Given the scale of the problems, both for Aston Martin and engine suppliers Honda, it’s difficult to see them recovering in the near future.
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Speaking on the Drive to Wynn podcast, former Haas F1 boss Steiner said Stroll had been true to his word by investing the best part of £1bn in Aston Martin. They opened a new factory in 2024 and have signed world-class engineers like Enrico Cardile, Andy Cowell and Adrian Newey.
However, Stroll has made several structural changes in recent times. Aston are currently looking for their fifth different team principal in five years.
Newey was surprisingly appointed at the end of last year after winning a power struggle with Cowell, but now the plan is to move him back to his managing technical partner role and find a new boss.
Has Lawrence Stroll made too many changes at Aston Martin?
Steiner says that Stroll doesn’t give his leadership staff enough time to effect change, which is why Aston Martin haven’t been able to crack the elite.
“Lawrence has done what he said he was going to do,” he said. “He just was not successful. He built up the new facility in Silverstone, which is fantastic, he got the best people in.
“I think he has not got the patience which is needed in Formula 1. If it doesn’t work in six or 12 months, he changes. The cycle is not 12 months in Formula 1. You need to wait until something works.”
Guenther Steiner warns Lawrence Stroll he ‘cannot push Honda’
Honda have, rightly or wrongly, received most of the blame for Aston Martin’s crisis. There is some hope that the team can be competitive once the Japanese manufacturer debug their engine and find more horsepower.
But Steiner has warned Stroll that they won’t respond to external pressure. Comparisons have been made to their disastrous partnership with McLaren between 2015 and 2017, but they were world champions with Red Bull by 2021.
- READ MORE: Aston Martin cornering data embarrasses Adrian Newey after he blamed Honda for their problems
“I’m sure he cannot push Honda,” said Steiner. “Honda will take the time it takes to get this right. He will have no say in that one. He can put pressure on, tell them to hurry up, but they will do it at their pace, as they did when they came back last time.
“It must be difficult. The guy put so much money in and he works really hard on it. At the moment, this is not good for him, for the company, being where they are.”
Jonathan Wheatley is the favourite to become Aston Martin’s new boss after leaving Audi, but no deal has been done yet.
Reports suggest that Stroll is losing his enthusiasm for F1, so the outcome of that appointment could be crucial to the team’s future.
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