Haas are currently the only team alongside Williams to still have an open seat for next year.
The American outfit looked like being one of the Formula 1 feel-good stories at the start of the season, after spending the 2021 season seeming running by themselves at the back of the grid.
Their season got off to a flyer, after a controversial summer which saw them ditch main sponsor Uralkali and driver Nikita Mazepin amidst the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Kevin Magnussen crossed the checkered flag in Bahrain in P5, leading fans to believe the American side could really push for points this season, however, this hasn’t always been the case.
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Team owner Gene Haas has grown frustrated with his team falling off the curve towards the mid part of the season.
“We started off the year with resounding success and I think the middle season wasn’t too good, and we just seem to fall back into out usual ways of running,” bemoaned Haas.
With the new regulations making F1 as competitive as ever, Haas is fully aware that his team has no safety net of teams guaranteed to be behind them.
“Formula One is so tough. When I started there was six seconds between the leaders and the backend and you had a 107% rile. Now we’re all within two seconds, so it’s gotten a lot tougher and there are no bad teams anymore.”
The Haas team owner has offered a lifeline to Schumacher, who has not scored points since his P6 finish in Austria, by saying that he is in charge of his own fate.
“Mick’s future is going to be decided by Mick,” he stated.
“If he wants to stay with us, he’s got to show us that he can score some more points,
“We’re just waiting. 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.”
While the young German has not been given a specific target to hit in the final four rounds of the season, it seems by Haas’ comments that keeping the car on the track, alongside scoring points, could be vital.
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“If he wins the next one, he’s in. Somewhere in between there is a grey area,” he explained.
“In this sport, being kind of a rookie driver, the sport just doesn’t allow it – it’s just too expensive. If you make any mistakes in driver selection, or strategy, or tire selection, it is costing you millions of dollars,
“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.”