“It happened on the f***ing in-lap. On the in-lap! Ridiculous!” ” Steiner raged over Formula 1 driver Mick Schumachers’ accident as detailed in his new book.
The Formula One marriage between Team Haas and Mick Schumacher ended in a bit of a domestic feud in 2022. Team boss Günther Steiner complained bitterly several times about the young German driver, who had to leave after the season. One reason was the youngster’s accidents, which cost the racing team a small fortune.
Those who want to know how things went behind the scenes at Team Haas in the 2022 Formula 1 season can get a fairly detailed impression in the Netflix series “Drive To Survive”.
Those who want to know even more details will soon get the chance. The book “Surviving to Drive” will be published on the German market at the end of April. It also deals with the past year of the US team. The author is none other than Haas team boss Günther Steiner.
Mick Schumacher issues
Mick Schumacher will also play a major role in the book by the South Tyrolean, as reported by the Times, among others, which was allowed to view the work before its publication.
Steiner was particularly angry about Schumacher’s accident in Suzuka. In a wet practice session, the German put his car into the wall on the way to the pits and caused repair costs of 700,000 US dollars.
“It happened on the f***ing in-lap. On the in-lap!” wrote Steiner about said scene.
“Of course it was very wet on the track, but no one else managed to lose a car on the way back to the pits. We lost a car after five minutes and had to build a new one.”
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Steiner claims high costs by Mick
Continuing, the South Tyrolean from Italy ranted, “I can’t have a driver who I don’t trust to get a car safely through a slow lap. That’s ridiculous. How many people could we have hired for 700,000 US dollars? And now I have to find the money somewhere.”
Steiner calculates that the German’s accidents cost the team a total of two million US dollars in the 2022 season alone.
The Suzuka incident was just one of many after which Steiner and Schumacher clashed. In the end, it became too much for the South Tyrolean and also owner Gene Haas. After two years, they ended the cooperation and hired Nico Hülkenberg as his successor.
The boys each have a little birthday message for you, Guenther 😊 #HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/S5MS6xBHhU
— MoneyGram Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) April 7, 2023
Gene Haas destroys Schumacher
In the Netflix show, Drive to Survive, the climax for Haas came in the race in Monaco at the swimming pool chicane Mick lost control of his car, which tore in two after the impact. Mick remains uninjured, but the mood at Haas is more tense than ever after this race.
Team owner Gene Haas even denies Schumacher his abilities in a telephone conversation with Steiner saying “It takes talent. You can’t develop talent.”
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Schumacher’s camp hits back
Ralf Schumacher defended his nephew in an interview with Germany’s AutoBild, saying: “I think it’s a pity it has come to this…
“I think, as a man and also as a father, that you don’t treat a young person like that. Mick is part of my family and you have to understand me: when you treat a member of my family like that, I don’t like it, because my name is Schumacher…”
Ralf Schumacher added that if his brother Michael, still in a serious state of health, was at his son’s side, Steiner’s words would have been different. And although his nephew Mick is no longer on the grid, Ralf Schumacher is not worried about his future:
“Although Mick didn’t get a fair chance in the second half of the season, and knowing that he had a team boss who didn’t want him anymore, he did a great job and that impressed me a lot. He just needs patience and a little bit of luck to get back in the car.”
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