For the first time since departing Haas at the end of 2022, Mercedes reserve driver Mick Schumacher has discussed his time with the American team and how he didn’t receive support from team boss Guenther Steiner.
Schumacher’s two years at Haas were very complicated, with his rookie season in 2021 having been spent well adrift of the field, after Haas decided to use their 2020 machinery for a second campaign.
This was done to prioritise 2022 and the new aerodynamic regulations, a decision which worked to some effect.
2021 was a positive season for Schumacher where he impressed many people; however, 2022 was filled with errors and big crashes.
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He failed to match team-mate Kevin Magnussen and had huge shunts in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, which cost the team millions.
Schumacher was ultimately not given a new contract for 2023, with him instead finding himself at Mercedes as their third driver.
The German received plenty of criticism during 2022 in particular, but he admits that you must “deliver the performance” no matter what is being said.
“There were a few moments where I wondered what I did wrong,” Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.
“But those ups and downs were great because it’s no different in motorsport. You always have people who support you and have your back, but also people who don’t have your back. But you still have to deliver the performance.”
One person he had issues with in 2022 was Steiner, who was very vocal about the German’s mistakes.
Steiner often complained to the media about how expensive the repair bills were, as a result of Schumacher’s crashes.
The son of Michael Schumacher believes some of the comments made were “unnecessary”, and that they made the “situation more complicated”.
“It was suboptimal,” Schumacher said.
“Everyone has an accident sometimes. In Saudi Arabia I was happy that I was fine, but certain people then started talking about something that was unnecessary and tried to make the situation more complicated. I didn’t that was great.
“I could actually have used something else.”
Having now spent over six months with Mercedes, Schumacher has worked closely with team principal Toto Wolff, as well as with McLaren.
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Schumacher is a reserve driver for the Woking-based team due to Mercedes being their powertrain supplier, with the German having praised Wolff and McLaren for showing him how a team should “actually” be run.
“I now see how things should actually be done,” said Schumacher.
“Even with other team bosses like at McLaren or Williams. The two years I had nothing to do with that. Then you cannot assume that a driver will perform at his best if he is not supported in the right way.”