This is what I like about scientists, they can change their minds based on the evidence. Well done, Sabine!
In fact, she might even stand to gain if funding gets diverted from fusion research towards other projects.
I find the claim almost trivially true: we care about electricity production, so that should be the main goal we're tracking.
The plasma physics for making a better (cheaper) reactor has been pushed in smaller machines, as shown by better triple product values and empirical scaling laws. Triple product is a measure of how well the plasma is confined. That's the metric to focus on (when accounting for the fact that the science machines are small with scaling laws). In that regard, we have made excellent progress.
A high Q machine (such as ITER) is valuable because it lets us study burning plasmas. It's an expensive pill to swallow but an essential step towards making a real reactor. Qtotal = 1 is a nothingburher. Qplasma = 1 is also a nothingburger, but at least going past that barrier grants new knowledge.