Hans-Joachim Stuck, who raced in Formula 1 for ATS, Brabham, March and Shadow, has spoken out on the performance of his fellow German drivers at Haas.
Mick Schumacher was dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season, with the team choosing to put their faith in Nico Hulkenberg, who returned to the grid after a three-year break.
“I can’t have a driver who I’m not sure if he knows how to safely drive the car at a slow speed,” Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said, discussing Schumacher’s crash at Suzuka last season during an in-lap.
“It’s just ridiculous,” Steiner added.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
“How many people could we employ with that $700,000?” Steiner said, outlining the costly impact of Schumacher’s incident.
Steiner claims that the crash at the Japanese Grand Prix was the moment he decided to drop Schumacher from the team in favour of the older and more experienced Hulkenberg.
Since joining Haas, Hulkenberg has impressed Steiner, improving in every race of the season and nearly securing a podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix.
“[Hulkenberg’s] performance hasn’t surprised me,” Stuck told Eurosport.
“He’s doing a sensational job.
“I don’t know whether Mick could also be performing like Nico.
“On the one hand it’s because he has the experience of how a car has to work and be developed. He also has racing experience that Schumacher needs to gather first.”
READ: Christian Horner reacts to Adrian Newey being linked with Mercedes
Since leaving Haas, Schumacher has joined Mercedes, his father’s old team, as a reserve driver.
With his work behind the scenes at the team helping to shape the development of the W14, Schumacher has received praise from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
Wolff revealed that he wouldn’t hesitate to put Schumacher in the car should Lewis Hamilton or George Russell be unavailable during a race weekend.