With Mick Schumacher’s Formula 1 career looking increasingly uncertain, Bernie Ecclestone and former team-mate Nikita Mazepin have jumped in to support the young German driver.
Since crashing heavily at both the Saudi Arabian and Monaco Grand Prix’s, Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has made zero attempt at keeping his opinion on his driver private.
Steiner has spoken out extremely negatively about Schumacher to the media, on a number of occasions.
As a result, a number of people have slammed Steiner for his treatment of his own driver.
Former F1 chief executive, Ecclestone, has made his opinion very well known.
The 91-year-old believes the criticism is unfair, with it being relatively unknown on what the VF22 is truly capable of.
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Haas are currently the only team not to introduce a single upgrade this season, with their sole upgrade reportedly coming at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“We don’t know how good or bad the car is,” Ecclestone said.
“It makes a big difference whether the car suits his driving style or not.”
Schumacher’s two huge crashes would’ve been incredibly costful for the American team, with Ecclestone explaining that the young German doesn’t need people to slam his performances.
“He doesn’t need people telling him that all the time.
“He needs someone to help him and not criticise him too much.”
Due to his father’s condition, Schumacher’s uncle ,Ralf Schumacher, has been the main voice to support the 23-year-old.
Ecclestone suspects though that if Michael Schumacher was in the paddock with his son, then the situation with Steiner would be drastically different.
“If Michael was here, he would tell Gunther where to go,” he said. “That would help a lot.”
Schumacher is still yet to score his first point in the championship, putting the young German under increasing pressure.
What doesn’t help the German is that new team-mate Kevin Magnussen, has already scored several for the team in his return season.
Ecclestone revealed that he’d love to see Schumacher in one of the strongest teams on the grid, to see if the 23-year-old truly has the potential to eclipse his famous father.
“If he upsets the team and they kick him out, the question then becomes whether another team is ready to take him on. So he’s suffering a bit and hoping someone will give him a chance,” he said on Schumacher’s current situation.
“He has the ability, so it’s whether there’s a team that wants to take him and try to see if he is as good as his dad.”
“I would like to see him in a different car – a more competitive car,” Ecclestone said.
“I would like to see him in the Mercedes, that would be nice.
“Red Bull would also be a good place for Schumacher”.
“They look after their drivers and try to find the best setup for them. You can see how good the second driver in their team is now,” continued Ecclestone whilst discussing the strengths of the top teams in the sport.
“They are very good and they make sure the car suits the driver.”
Someone who can relate to having received plenty of criticism from Steiner is Russian driver Mazepin, who saw his contract with Haas terminated due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Mazepin who partnered Schumacher in 2021, explained how he believes “sitting down” with his former team-mate rather than publicly criticising him would be more beneficial.
“I was also raised in such a way that it is not customary to judge people who are twice my age. So I won’t do it,” Mazepin told the Russian daily Sport-Express.
“I don’t know many people who read negative news about themselves and then drove better.
“If public criticism does help someone then great. But I think it is more useful to personally sit down with a person and express everything one on one,” concluded Mazepin.