Guenther Steiner explains why Haas did not extend Mick Schumacher's contract

The most important news which was reported this morning, at least as far as Formula 1 is concerned, is the separation between the Haas F1 team and Mick Schumacher. The American team officially announced today its intention not to renew the German’s contract after two seasons together and, consequently, confirmed the signing of Nico Hulkenberg for the 2023 Formula 1 season.

A few hours after the official announcement, Motorsport was able to speak with Guenther Steiner, team principal of Haas F1, to comment on the choice made by the US-based team.

Motorsport asked Guenther Steiner if the situation would have changed if Mick Schumacher and not Kevin Magnussen had taken pole in Brazil, but the Italian manager was clear: “No, nothing would have changed, because you can’t make this decision based on an emotional result, a race or qualifying. It would be wrong and it would be wrong in both senses.”

Guenther Steiner acknowledged that Mick’s series of crashes at the start of the year certainly didn’t help, but also underlined that the team’s decision was the result of a bigger picture.

“That’s part of the problem, but you can’t just say he had an accident. This was certainly not a good thing. I’m not trying to make it a good thing now, but then we can see how much influence his great results have had. We need to find a balance. In Austria and at Silverstone he scored excellent results” – the Haas boss admitted.

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“And then there were negative things. The crashes. So it’s a mix of things. It wasn’t just one event, as it seems. It’s a combination of things and the most important thing is that in the future we want to build the team again”.

On Mick Schumacher, Steiner then added: “Mick has improved a lot during the season. You’ve seen it and we’ve all seen it. I don’t need to tell you. That’s why we needed a lot of time to decide. We didn’t made the decision already before the summer, it took a long time to decide what was best for the team, as I always say. Mick drove well in some races.” – he continued.

“I think Mick lacked experience in Formula 1 and the fact that he had never driven for any team other than ours. Nico, on the other hand, has already worked with 3-4 teams so he has experience and experience takes time to be acquired. At the moment we don’t have time, because we want to progress. We don’t want to stay where we are now, we want to improve” – Guenther Steiner said – “It’s not Mick’s fault that we’re where we are. It’s our fault too, but we have to get back on track and there’s a shorter way: hire a driver with a lot of experience, who has done so in various teams that are in positions similar to ours”.

Asked whether the Ferrari junior deserved to find a place to race in Formula 1, the Haas team principal replied: “I can’t judge whether he deserves it or not. I think there will be no place next year unless something very strange happens at Williams this weekend” (Williams is waiting for Logan Sargeant to get his superlicense and then announce him, ed).

“So, deserving or not, who am I to judge? I think we all have to work for something, nobody gets anything for free. We have no seats. I don’t like to advise my colleagues, other team principals, who deserves what. I don’t I want to be in this position,” concluded Guenther Steiner.