Mick Schumacher had a difficult season with the Haas team last year, and now Schumacher is with the Mercedes team as a reserve driver. Haas F1 team boss Guenther Steiner looks back on last year in the Sky Sports Podcast, where he makes some striking statements about Michael's son.
According to Steiner, the media were partly to blame for Schumacher's downward spiral in performance, with journalists and analysts talking about Haas needing to keep the German. According to Haas, this put extra pressure on Schumacher, whose race results declined as a result. "In the end, they didn't actively try to divide us, but that's what they did. I think he didn't feel good when he heard the things talked about me, and I didn't feel good coming from their side. In the end, they tried to divide us", Steiner said.
The life of a team boss
The job of a team is to finish as high as possible, of course. So Steiner and Schumacher's interest was the same: to perform, they expected the same from each other. Schumacher crashed his car regularly, while his teammate Kevin Magnussen produced fine performances for the team last season. "In the end, he scored points. Nobody says that's because Guenther managed Mick like this. Nobody came with that, and I don't expect that, like I don't expect to be blamed if he crashes. The driver has to do that himself to get the points and not to crash."
Steiner reports that he has not spoken to Schumacher since he left the team. Steiner: "I have no problems saying hello. I don't know how he will react, but I think we are all grown up. In the end, we had two years together. We tried to do something. We gave Mick an opportunity, which I think needs to be respected. Haas F1 gave him the opportunity, and we all need to move on. Formula 1 is quite a small circus, so there is no point to fight or not say hello to anybody."
