The American founder, president, and sole stockholder of Haas Automation, Gene Haas, opened up on Ferrari Driver Academy member Mick Schumacher’s Formula 1 future with the American team, stating that Mick’s future is in his own hands.
In a recent interview for The Associated Press, which was held at the NASCAR race in Las Vegas, the founder of the NASCAR team Haas CNC Racing and the Formula One team (Haas F1 Team), explained:
“Mick’s future is going to be decided by Mick. We’re just waiting. We need Mick to bring some points and we’re trying to give him as much time as possible to see what he can do. If he wants to stay with us, he’s got to show us that he can score some more points. That’s what we are waiting for.” – Gene Haas said.
Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher is currently in his second season in Formula One alongside the American racing team. Last season the German driver made his F1 debut but had to spend the year mostly at the back of the grid, due to the poor competitiveness of his car. In 2022, Haas has made some steps forward and the situation has indeed improved, at least a little. Haas started the season with some good performances in terms of race pace, but Kevin Magnussen was the one who was able to capitalize early on in the season and score some good points.
Ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Haas is currently 8th in the constructors’ standings, with the same number of points as AlphaTauri, while Mick Schumacher is 16th in the drivers’ championship with 12 points scored so far. With four races left of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the German driver’s best race result was a P4 at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.
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Unfortunately, since the Australian Grand Prix, Mick Schumacher has not been able to score any more points, which has casted doubt on his future with Haas. However, it should also be pointed out that poor pit stops and far from ideal strategical calls from the pit wall made things difficult for Mick in several races, including last time out in the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit.
Mick Schumacher’s deal with Haas is set to end after the 2022 F1 championship. Gene Haas looks back on the team’s season:
“We started off the year with resounding success and I think the middle season wasn’t too good, and we just seem to fall back into our usual way of running. We’ve just got to get out of that. And Formula One is so tough. When I started there was 6 seconds between the leaders and the backend and you had a 107% rule. Now we’re all within 2 seconds, so it’s gotten a lot tougher and there are no bad teams anymore.” – he added.
One main issue, as pointed out by Gene Haas, is that the Ferrari junior has caused some high costs for the team due to several crashes in 2022:
“In this sport, being kind of a rookie driver, the sport just doesn’t allow it — it’s just too expensive. If you make any mistakes in driver selection, or strategy, or tire selection, it is costing you millions of dollars. I think Mick has got a lot of potential, but you know he costs a fortune and he’s wrecked a lot of cars that have cost us a lot of money that we just don’t have. Now, if you bring us some points, and you are (Max) Verstappen and you wreck cars, we’ll deal with it. But when you are in the back and you wreck cars, that’s very difficult.” – he continued.
When asked about what specifically has to happen in the last four rounds of the 2022 Formula One campaign for the Ferrari Driver Academy member to get a new contract, Haas joked: “Well, if he wins the next one, he’s in!”
“Somewhere in between there is a gray area.” – he concluded.
According to the Italian media, another candidate for the 2023 F1 seat at Haas is Nico Hülkenberg.
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