Why Schumacher's Haas departure was inescapable

Guenther Steiner has explained the inescapable disadvantage that faced Mick Schumacher as his Haas fate was decided.

Haas has elected to replace 23-year-old Schumacher with veteran driver Nico Hulkenberg for the 2023 season.

Schumacher had shown plenty of improvement during his second season but was unable to turn his performances into consistent scores and when a number of expensive and extremely damaging crashes were added to the mix, the writing was on the wall.

Further to this was Haas' desire to field a more experienced driver, a criteria impossible for Schumacher to fulfil.

READ MORE: Eyewatering $5million Las Vegas Grand Prix package revealed

Speaking to GPFans, team principal Steiner said: “I always say, ‘You always can do better when you look in the mirror’. I would never say ‘You could have done better’. You can always do better.

“We need to say, again, why we changed - I explained that very well. What we were looking for, he hasn’t got, because he's too young.

“It's difficult to say, if you would've just done this, that, and the other, he could have stayed.

“What we were looking for, to bring the team up, Nico had the longer past [experience], and you cannot make up time.

“That was the circumstance, not that he wasn't a good enough driver.

“It’s a combination of things. We want to bring the team forward so, therefore, we decided to go with a different type of driver, one with experience. That is why we decided to go the other way.”

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 star faces calendar nightmare after qualifying for race that clashes with Singapore GP

• Yesterday 23:15

Martin Brundle claims this F1 moment blew title race wide open

• Yesterday 22:27

The odd quirk F1 drivers will face at Bahrain Grand Prix

• Yesterday 21:42

Max Verstappen signs for Mercedes as F1 insider predicts every move in wild silly season

• Yesterday 20:54

Sky F1 star admits being 'overwhelmed' after shock TV exit

• Yesterday 19:42

Ferrari poach Mercedes F1 star as double signing ramps up title fight

• Yesterday 18:42