He’s the son of a Formula One legend, but Mick Schumacher hasn’t set the racing world on fire in his opening two seasons in F1.
Now he’s copped a brutal reality check from his team owner Gene Haas.
“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,” the American told Associated Press.
“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.”
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Schumacher suffered a woeful start to the season, crashing in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian GP and forcing him to miss the race. He collided with Sebastian Vettel at the Miami Grand Prix and cost himself a points finish, before demolishing his car again in Monaco.
But he has since taken steps forward, claiming a best-ever result of sixth in Austria. He currently sits 16th in the drivers championship with 12 points, two places and 10 points behind teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen is locked in for 2023, while Schumacher’s contract currently expires at the end of this campaign.
Haas has been linked to Nico Hulkenberg, who last raced full-time in 2019 but has filled in four times for various teams since then.
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But team boss Guenther Steiner has also thrown a shock lifeline to Daniel Ricciardo, saying the Australian should ‘call me up’ if he wants to race for the American outfit next year.
However, Haas said Schumacher’s time is not necessarily up – so long as he finishes the year strongly.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
