Mick Schumacher was less than impressed with his Haas team after finishing ninth in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race.
The German had qualified seventh behind team-mate Kevin Magnussen after an impressive Friday showing for the team, and they had each been promoted up a position after Sergio Perez’s track limits penalty.
The Mexican swiftly found his way through the Haas duo, before the Mercedes of Sir Lewis Hamilton – recovering after contact with Pierre Gasly on the opening lap – came up behind them.
Schumacher was asking Haas to be allowed to pass his team-mate, as he was quicker and under pressure from the seven-time world champion, but they neglected to wave him past.
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The 23-year-old put up an outstanding defence against Hamilton, but eventually succumbed to the pace of the Mercedes, finishing out of the points in the sprint.
Schumacher enjoyed his battle with the Briton, but he does not feel as though he should have been left in that position to begin with.
“I think that it’s something to be discussed but yeah I think the battle with Lewis was fun,” he explained when speaking to Sky Sports.
“But, in the first place it shouldn’t have happened.
“I think that in some ways I was quite a bit quicker [than Magnussen], so…”
He replied “yeah” when asked if he felt the team should have swapped the drivers over, giving the same response when asked if he had spoken about this with the team on the radio, and again when queried as to whether they said no.
As for why the American side did not ask Magnussen to let Schumacher through, the German will have to discuss that with them.
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“That’s something I have to understand,” he stated.
The 2020 Formula 2 champion was investigated for a start procedure infringement, but he was unsure of what he might have done wrong.
“We’ll see, there’s one thing I can think of which was… I did a burnout, it was front of Kevin,” added Schumacher.
“But then I let him through… other than that I don’t know if there’s anything I did wrong, I don’t think so.
“Maybe I was out of position again, let’s see.”
Magnussen held off Hamilton on the final lap of the race, and claimed two points for the team.