Ralf Schumacher has again sharply criticised the Haas F1 team boss Günther Steiner in the wake of the German-German driver swap between his nephew Mick Schumacher and Nico Hülkenberg.

“You can’t call that personnel management,” said the Formula 1 pundit in an interview with Sky Germany, continuing with: “I mean, you have to motivate your employees.”

A task in which, in his opinion, Steiner failed in his dealings with Mick: “Every time Mick has to read in the media, yes, his up & down, he’s not consistent enough and it will show whether he’s fast enough.”

“I would have been happy if Günther Steiner had also once said: ‘Oh, man, have we actually been good enough? How many mistakes have we made? How many times did we let our drivers or Mick down in the strategies?'”

Schumacher can empathise with nephew

“In the end,” Ralf Schumacher admits, “it was a bit better.” but he also says qualifying in Sao Paulo was another negative example:

“Mick had to perform in half wet, half dry. On the other hand, he is constantly under pressure not to make any mistakes, not to break anything, because otherwise you can’t drive for us any more,

“When you have to approach it like that and you’re under pressure like that, of course you can’t ride free. And especially in such conditions, to keep the temperature in the tyres and to develop the self-confidence to push, as Magnussen managed to do, that is then impossible as a driver. I can put myself in a good place there.”

“Personally, I wouldn’t have had the calmness there that Mick exuded at his young age,” Schumacher admits.

“He also, I think, gave super performances, despite the whole thing and despite the, also public, pressure.”

Schumacher criticises Steiner’s personnel management: “Take a course!”

“I remember Austria or Japan, where they also chose the wrong strategy. I have to say quite honestly: I lack any reference to self-criticism. On the other hand: the way Günther Steiner is, a bit of a self-promoter, it’s also not surprising that he doesn’t like to see himself criticised or wants to criticise himself.”

Schumacher therefore recommends that the South Tyrolean take a management course in the winter:

“That might help,” he muses. He is also critical of Steiner’s reaction when Kevin Magnussen said Mick was a good team-mate. Steiner said Magnussen should “think about his own future and concentrate on himself”.

“There is simply a personnel management that is different from that in other teams,” criticises the Sky expert and refers to teams like Alpine, where, according to his perception, the drivers themselves were taken to task after their collision in Brazil:

“They treat each other differently there,” says Schumacher.