Formula 1 journalist Joe Saward has indicated that Haas are beginning to grow impatient with Mick Schumacher’s mistakes, and could give him his marching orders at the end of the year.
Schumacher has cost Haas over $2 million in damage since his arrival at the team last year, with the latest major accident arriving at last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The crash meant that he has gone 29 races without scoring a single point in the pinnacle of motorsport, and pressure is starting to ramp up on the 23-year-old, including from his team principal – Guenther Steiner.
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“With Mick we obviously saw what happened,” said Steiner after the race.
“It’s not very satisfactory having a big crash again. We need to see how we move forward from here.”
In his blog, Saward writes that patience is now “wearing thin for Haas and there is talk that it would probably like a different driver next year, although Ferrari does have a say in the matter.”
Stipulated in Haas’ contract with Ferrari is that they must run a junior driver in their team in return for engine supply, so they would need to find a replacement that would suit.
Former Formula 2 driver Robert Shwartzman would be the obvious choice given his work with the Scuderia but, while Hitech driver Marcus Armstrong may have left the Ferrari programme earlier this year, he has not found an affiliation with anyone else, so a return could possibly be on the cards for the New Zealander.
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Callum Ilott left F2 at the end of 2020 when Nikita Mazepin was promoted to Haas instead of him, and he has scored 89 points in nine races with Juncos in IndyCar.
Ferrari would therefore not be short of options, particularly with Armstrong performing well in F2 right now.
They will also surely be keeping an eye on F2 championship leader Felipe Drugovich who, despite his tremendous performances in the junior series, is not currently affiliated with any F1 team.
As for where Schumacher would go were he to be released, Saward indicates that Aston Martin would be an ideal destination if Sebastian Vettel decides to leave at the end of the year.
“The rumour in Monaco is that Mick’s people are now looking at other options for the future and that Aston Martin might be a good choice for him because he’s German, younger and less hairy than Sebastian Vettel, and he is not too fast for Lance [Stroll],” explained the Briton.
Saward also suggested that the young Canadian is “good, but not quite good enough.”