Steiner learned of Schumacher’s ill-fitting seat from his mother

2021 Styrian Grand Prix

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was unaware of Mick Schumacher’s discomfort in his car until the driver’s mother told him about it.

Schumacher told media in Austria yesterday he had discussed his uncomfortable sitting position in the Haas VF-21 with Sebastian Vettel at the end of the French Grand Prix.

“Basically I’ve been sitting in a crooked position since the beginning of the season,” Schumacher explained. “The seat is central, but I am not straight. We’ve actually been talking about it before and I took the opportunity to show it to him.”

Vettel “gave my mum a tip of maybe breaking it so I would get a new one sooner,” said Schumacher, “but it didn’t happen in the end so I still got the same seat for now.”

“The plans are there to change a seat in the near future,” Schumacher added.

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Steiner believes too much has been made of the problem and said the driver can have a new seat as soon as he needs.

Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Red Bull Ring, 2021
Pictures: 2021 Styrian Grand Prix practice
“The first time I found out his mom told me in France that there was something with the seat. I said I’m not aware of it.

“Then I think it has just escalated because I would say he wants to make a new seat but he said it himself, I think it was yesterday, that there is no urgency.

“I think he’s not completely straight, which means maybe there is some pressure or something. But he’s not sitting at 45 degrees so his body is not completely twisted or the car is not straight.

“Because Sebastian looked in the car and then it was made the big story out of it, which I’m fine with, but I wasn’t even aware until his mum told me about it, so it cannot be this bad. And we will make him a seat as soon as he wants one and when he thinks we are in the right position to do so.”

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2021 Styrian Grand Prix

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17 comments on “Steiner learned of Schumacher’s ill-fitting seat from his mother”

  1. Jonathan Parkin
    25th June 2021, 18:59

    Hasn’t had a perfect seat yet is still finishing ahead of Mazepin

    1. Alfa Romeo next year? Unless they retain the Iron Cro- wait is it still seen here?

      1. Yeah… is he still wearing that?

  2. Mum knows best!

    1. Whose mother could tell Ferrari how to be faster..

  3. Netflix needs to do a two-parter on this. I want to see Steiner dropping fbombs on Mutti and her attacking him for the crummy budget seats Hass probably got for their drivers to save a couple bucks.

    1. Barry Bens (@barryfromdownunder)
      25th June 2021, 19:29

      They’ll have to come up with somethign to make this season worthwhile, seeing as they can only show the title fight from 1 side. Verstappen has already said he was not interested in being used for the totally unreal image Netflix paints of the F1, so that’s going to be a challenge.

    2. I heard from an inside source, This years Haas cars use old school seats……

  4. Such weird stories only happen over at Haas.

  5. There is something to improve in the driver team communication at Haas it seems.

  6. Either Schumacher is too timid to make a fuss, or he wants to be a man about it and just suck it up, but either is not right. Even with limited resources, he should at the very least inform the team it’s an issue.

  7. This is weird. A driver’s seat is serious business, it’s not something that a team just botches together and so be it. Why would Mick not ask his team to make a better fitting one?

    It seems so basic…

    1. Definitely.
      There is performance to be found in a properly fitted seat. Maybe Haas just isn’t really bothered.
      I still recall seeing a post about Kimi getting out the tools and fixing his own seat at Sauber.

      1. @rekibsn Schumacher doesn’t have a background of working as a mechanic like Kimi did. Comparing anyone to Kimi’s background in 2021 is a little misguided.

        1. But can he serve ice-cream … ???

  8. Schumi_alonso
    26th June 2021, 2:11

    That is not how you treat the future 8 time champ

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