Ralf Schumacher: Guenther Steiner’s behaviour towards Mick Schumacher ‘almost has to be something personal’
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Mick Schumacher and Guenther Steiner
There are rumours floating around that Haas have made their decision regarding the team’s driver lineup for 2023 – they’re expected to announce the signing of Nico Hulkenberg, replacing Mick Schumacher, whose season has been up and down, at best. While he had two superb weekends in Silverstone and Austria, for much of the year, he’s had middling fortunes.
Guenther Steiner has often been openly critical of Schumacher, and Gene Haas as well, with the latter stating that the German needs to score points to secure his future and that he’s cost (and costs) a lot of money. That hasn’t happened since Austria (Haas as a team have only scored 3 points since that weekend), and so Schumacher looks to be on his way out from the team.
Mick Schumacher’s uncle, Ralf, who has often criticized Steiner in the past, thinks that the team principal has something ‘personal’ against his nephew. Speaking to Sky Deutschland, he said: “I see it as difficult for Haas to choose Mick, otherwise they would have done it long ago. I think the interaction in the team and the openness of Guenther Steiner – I’ll call it that politely – doesn’t necessarily speak positively.” as per CRASH.
Ralf Schumacher thinks that Haas and Steiner were never pleased with anything Schumacher Jr. did: “Mick has shown that there is potential but no matter what he did, the team and Guenther Steiner were never satisfied with it. This behaviour cannot be explained with normal standards. It almost has to be something personal.”
Ralf: Steiner cannot deal with Mick Schumacher being the focus at Haas
Mick is the son of Formula 1’s (joint) record champion – Michael Schumacher. There are grave and great expectations that come with that. While there was never a shortage of opportunity for him, people, perhaps unfairly, wanted him to live up to that name. Ralf feels that the attention given to the young German is not sitting well with Guenther Steiner.
The former Williams driver said: “I believe that Guenther Steiner cannot deal with the fact that someone else is the focus at Haas. He’s very, very happy to be the one front and centre. You can’t call it personnel management. You have to motivate your employees. He’s under constant pressure not to make any mistakes, otherwise he can’t continue to work for Haas. When you’re under that kind of pressure, you can’t drive freely.”
While a full-time racing seat with Haas now looks out of grasp for Mick Schumacher, it is still possible that he can remain connected with Formula 1, and there are reports of him being in discussions with Mercedes. The Silver Arrows have also made it clear that they ‘value Mick very much, and that the Schumacher name belongs to Mercedes.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)