Why Haas Did Not Make “Cheap” Offer To Mick Schumacher After Firing Him
Haas received some backlash last year when they unceremoniously let go of Mick Schumacher and signed Nico Hulkenberg in his place. There were some who felt that the team should have at least done their best to help Mick stay on the F1 grid. Haas team principal, Guenther Steiner has explained why they didn’t while speaking to GP Fans
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I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Why Haas Did Not Make “Cheap” Offer To Mick Schumacher After Firing Him
Guenther began by revealing if Mick Schumacher would have stayed at Haas as their reserve driver
“I didn't ask him, to be honest”
He then gave his thoughts on why Mick wouldn’t have been happy as their reserve driver
“It's always difficult for somebody, if you have driven for a team, to then be relegated to reserve driver. I don't think he would be happy with that”
He signed off by giving his reasons on why they didn’t offer Mick the third driver role
“He didn't approach me about that, and I didn't want to [approach him about it]”
"It’s a bit cheap to ask him, 'We won't let you drive the car, but would you like to be the reserve driver?’”
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Cadillac’s Global Vice President, Rory Harvey thinks “that in terms of the partnership between Andretti and General Motors and Cadillac, we have a very good proposition” [Pitpass]
“We wouldn't have gone forward in announcing our intent to submit an Expression of Interest if we didn't think it was a proposition that fulfilled the requirements and give us the ability to succeed”
Mercedes driver George Russell feels that “if any driver was to receive a race ban, it needs to be for something pretty damn serious” [Racing News 365]
“I definitely don’t put Pierre [Gasly] in the category of a dangerous or reckless driver”
“A number of his penalty points have been through non-dangerous driving, so it would be a shame to see him take a race ban”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff “would say the car [they] gave the two drivers was really a handful, very unpredictable, difficult to drive, and not competitive” [GP Fans]
“Therefore, it was more live testing than really racing”
“Once we got to a sensible point, [Lewis Hamilton] got back to his A-game”
Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas suggested that “the biggest strength this year has been that [teammate Zhou Guanyu] really hasn’t made any mistakes” [Autosport]
“It’s not guaranteed as a rookie, and it’s a sport where it’s easy to try too much and too hard and make silly mistakes”
“But he’s been good on giving himself some time to develop and not wanting things too quickly”
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez thinks that “as Formula 1 drivers, [they] are constantly working for new challenges all the time” [F1]
“But I do feel, at this time, I’m pretty much at my best”
“I really want to carry it on and start next year on a very high [level]”
Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi explained that they expect Pierre Gasly to “give feedback to the team and take the whole team in the right direction so the car improves” [F1]
Would it have been “cheap” for Haas to offer Mick Schumacher a reserve driver role after firing him?