Steiner: Ferrari is under a lot of pressure because of Lewis

      The last Ferrari driver to win the Japanese Grand Prix was Michael Schumacher: in October 2004, he was the first to cross the finish line in Suzuka, more than 14 seconds ahead of his younger brother Ralf, who was still driving for Williams that season.

      That is, it was more than twenty years ago, and since then Since then, in different years, representatives of the Scuderia have only risen to the podium there. Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Charles Leclair and Carlos Sainz finished in the top three in Suzuka and at another Japanese circuit, Fuji International Speedway.

      At the same time, there is a whole army of fans of the Italian team in Japan, who, of course, will be happy if Ferrari is rehabilitated after the very disturbing troubles that occurred in China, where both Leclair and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified.

      Gunther Steiner, the former head of the Haas team and now an expert at the German RTL TV channel, is not inclined to dramatize the situation: "I don't see any signs of despair, I see only a desire for Ferrari to achieve good results.

      The team is under tremendous pressure, mainly because of Lewis Hamilton. No matter what he does, he is the center of everyone's attention. But at Ferrari, when they signed a contract with him, they had to understand what they were doing.

      At the same time, Mercedes, left without Hamilton, performs well, but now its drivers are almost invisible to the public. The press is much more interested in Ferrari and Hamilton than Mercedes, although this team is currently showing better results. All this once again speaks to the magnetic attraction of Hamilton's personality, which stands out even against the general background of Ferrari."

      We will find out very soon what the Scuderia can achieve at Suzuki, but it is equally interesting whether McLaren can build on the success achieved in the first two stages of the season. The last time a rider of this team won in Japan was also quite a long time ago, 14 years ago – in 2011, Jenson Button succeeded. By the way, his teammate at that time was Hamilton, who finished fifth in that race.