Accident prone Mick Schumacher set to lose Formula One seat after costly season for Haas

Mick Schumacher’s Formula One future hangs in the balance. It has been a costly season for Haas and a decision is looming over the son of F1 icon Michael Schumacher.

Mick Schumacher drives his Haas at the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix. Picture: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Mick Schumacher’s Formula One future hangs in the balance with Haas expected to make a decision in the coming days on whether to keep him on next season.

The 23-year-old has been with the American team for two seasons but his contract expires at the end of this year and the present signs suggest he will struggle to find a seat next season.

The German’s predicament became more precarious in Brazil this weekend as he qualified last on Friday night, in stark contrast to his teammate, Kevin Magnussen, who secured pole for yesterday’s (Saturday’s) sprint race.

“Expect the announcement some time next week,” Guenther Steiner, the Haas team principal, said yesterday (Saturday) morning in Sao Paulo, regarding what is the last available seat on next season’s grid. “I’m not telling you a day [for the announcement] because then everybody will be waiting. It will be coming next week.”

Steiner said he felt “almost sorry” for Schumacher after Friday’s qualifying. “He did a good job in Q1 [the first phase] before he went out. The first two runs were very good but then with the dry tyres he just couldn’t get the feeling,” Steiner said.

“He lost a little bit of [tyre] temperature when some people overtook him on his out lap and then couldn’t get the temperature back in and lost a little bit of confidence, started to slide.

“That is what is happening. It just didn’t work for him. But otherwise the whole season we all know he had very good moments and very bad moments. It’s an up and down.”

Mick Schumacher arrives in the paddock area at Interlagos. Picture: AFP

Schumacher, son of the seven-times world champion Michael, has had an inconsistent year, with some costly crashes. In the second race of the season a collision with the barriers in qualifying in Jeddah was thought to have cost the team $US1 million in repairs. He was forced to miss the race as Haas could not rebuild the car in time with the limited parts they had on site. It was a similar bill after a crash in Monaco in May, and then another half a million dollars in Japan, when he crashed out at Suzuka.

Haas operate on one of the smallest budgets on the grid, not even close to the budget cap, and need a driver who can keep their car out of the barriers. The team simply cannot afford Schumacher’s mistakes, while he has scored points in only two races this season – Magnussen has managed to pick up points in six.

They have already confirmed that Magnussen, 30, will keep his seat, and the strong rumours are that Haas want to give him a partner with similar experience. They are considering Nico Hulkenberg, 35, who has not had a permanent seat since 2019 and has the unwanted record of most F1 race starts without a podium. He has stepped in as a substitute in recent years but many thought his F1 career over.

Track marshals clean up Mick Schumacher’s Haas after a crash during qualifying at the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images

Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, said that while Schumacher had improved, it might be too late for him to keep the seat. “I think he’s lifted his game,” he told the F1 Nation podcast. “I think Kevin has definitely made him realise, ‘There’s more I need to do, I need to be better.’

“I think he’s still dropping the ball and costing the team a lot of money when he unfortunately damages the car. Where they [Haas] are, a guy that crashes the car is not what they need.”

– The Sunday Times

Originally published as Accident prone Mick Schumacher set to lose Formula One seat after costly season for Haas