JUNE 10, 2022

Schumacher situation getting serious says Steiner

Gunther Steiner admits he will have a "serious conversation" with Mick Schumacher if Haas' struggling German driver has another major shunt at Baku.

Gunther Steiner admits he will have a "serious conversation" with Mick Schumacher if Haas' struggling German driver has another major shunt at Baku.

The team boss has already warned 23-year-old Schumacher that his crashes are not only costing Haas points but a lot of money in repairs and spare parts.

"I would say so," Steiner said when asked if another crash will have consequences for the son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher.

"We will have a serious conversation because at some stage we'll run out of parts. We cannot keep up in making them. And that much money you throw out, you just physically cannot do it.

"So we need to make sure that nothing happens here," he insisted. "Mick knows that too, and crashing into the wall isn't healthy for him either."

Schumacher is at Haas as a result of the team's close working relationship with Ferrari, who have a long-term contract on him.

He has recently been linked with a move to Aston Martin, and rumours have also suggested Red Bull might take him on for the junior team Alpha Tauri.

But Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko also has concerns.

"The frequency of crashes is, I think, a problem," the 78-year-old Austrian said.

"We had a similar situation with Yuki Tsunoda last year," Marko said. "He started off great in terms of speed, then a lot of unnecessary accidents.

"That had a negative impact on the budget - a massive negative impact."

Some have estimated Schumacher's damage bill from Monaco, where his car physically split in half, at $1 million.

"This is money down the drain," Steiner said at Baku.

"We are now repairing the chassis, but many parts are broken. We have three chassis - two main ones and a spare, but it is not painted.

"If we have to use it in Baku, we will simply cover it with white paint," he added.

"Dallara worked around the clock to get us parts so we could race, and the problem is always the money but a bigger problem is the production of so many spare parts.

"Dallara does not have such a capacity. Ferrari helped us out with suspension elements as we are running out. But otherwise, something needs to be done with our budget.

"You can't keep spending money you don't have," Steiner added.

At Baku, Schumacher admitted that he's "under pressure", but he insists he is "not stressed" and is able to cope.

"In Formula 2, my teammate also had a good start to the season, but I turned it in my favour over the course of the season," he said.

(GMM)