Swiss-French professional racing driver Romain Grosjean, currently competing under the French flag in the NTT IndyCar Series, believes Haas should have offered Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher a contract extension for the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Romain Grosjean raced in F1 for Haas between 2016 and 2020. At the end of the 2020 F1 campaign, just after his near-fatal fiery crash in Bahrain, Frenchman Grosjean – now in Indycar – left the American team, who at that time decided to change its lineup and give rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin a chance for the 2021 championship.
While Nikita Mazepin was ousted by Haas after one year, Mick Schumacher continued with the American side for 2022, but has not been given a contract extension, as Haas choose to pair Grosjean’s former teammate Kevin Magnussen with 35-year-old Formula 1 returnee Nico Hulkenberg for the following season.
A few weeks ago, Haas team principal Gunther Steiner opened up on the call to replace the Ferrari junior and explained: “Because we are no longer the same Haas team as at the beginning of 2021. Now we need experienced hands on the steering wheel.” – Gunther Steiner said.
Romain Grosjean, who has been signed up for Lamborghini’s factory Le Mans effort, does not share the same view as his ex team principal:
“Mick Schumacher did a good last part of the season and from my point of view there was no reason to change anything in the lineup. The team probably just wanted a different driver.” – the Frenchman said.
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At the same time, Romain Grosjean pointed out that Nico Hulkenberg remains a top driver, while pointing out that Ferrari Driver Academy member Mick Schumacher would have deserved another chance from the American side: “Hulkenberg is a very talented driver who used to show great speed,” said Grosjean. “Let’s see what he can achieve at Haas, but – again – that’s not the decision I would have made on the driver question.” – he continued.
Nico Hulkenberg has been missing from Formula 1 for the last three years, losing his seat with Renault at the end of the 2019 season. While he admitted to having felt “human degradation” in the final part of the testing session at the Yas Marina circuit after the last round of 2022, the Haas boss confirmed he was not worried:
“We also have pre-season testing in Bahrain. I think he’ll be right on top of it by then. Physically these Formula 1 cars are quite demanding and it will take him a while to get used to them because the only way you train your muscles is to drive the cars. He was reasonably fit already, but then we also had the question of whether he is immediately sharp when he comes back after being out for a while. But if you look at the results he showed when he just came in at the last minute, he was pretty good,” Gunther Steiner added.
Regarding Mick Schumacher, he may end his time with the Ferrari Driver Academy, given the fact that the Maranello team does not seem to have any opportunities to offer him in the next few years, but the German driver could maintain his Formula 1 dream alive by joining Mercedes as a third driver role for the 2023 campaign.
In one of his final interviews as a Haas driver, Mick Schumacher admitted that he may have miscalculated the difficulty of facing a highly experienced teammate like Kevin Magnussen during the 2022 F1 championship: “He went into this season without great expectations – he had nothing to lose. But I did. Looking back, given the signs, my approach was probably wrong.” – the Ferrari junior admitted.
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