Mick Schumacher, Haas, Monaco, 2022

“Serious conversation” needed if Schumacher’s crashes continue – Steiner

2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Haas team principal Guenther Steiner says they are struggling to keep up with the demand for replacement parts caused by Mick Schumacher’s heavy crashes this season.

Schumacher snapped the rear end off his VF-22 when he spun into a barrier during the last race in Monaco. It followed his huge crash in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which he did not take part in as the team opted to preserve its stock of parts for coming races.

Asked by RaceFans in Baku whether a repeat this weekend would be grounds for serious talks with his driver, Steiner said: “I would say so.”

“Because also we will have a serious conversation because at some stage we’ll run out of parts,” he continued. “We cannot keep up making them. And that much money you throw out you just can physically not do it.

“So we need to make sure that here nothing happens.”

Following the latest crash the team has only one spare chassis available, which is not painted, and will have to be stickered up to be used this weekend.

“The chassis is being repaired,” Steiner explained. “The chassis is actually itself not damaged a lot but there are fairings and bonded-on parts so we had to replace them.

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“But it was checked over, you do the normal [integrity] check but it’s all good. The engine is also okay and the gearbox is obviously not okay. And a lot of other parts are not okay.”

“We have got three [chassis] in circulation but we got it checked and we ship it out here,” he added. “But if we need to use it, it will not be painted, it will be ‘decaled’ white.”

Haas sources some of its parts from Ferrari, while others are manufactured by Dallara. Both have worked hard to ensure Haas arrived in Baku ready to race, said Steiner.

“Dallara work day and night [so] we have got spares here that we can keep on going. The money is always an issue because you have to pay, but actually the issue was to have enough parts made because production can [only] do so much. You don’t have five moulds for fairings, you have got one mould and if you keep on making them it takes time.

“So it was a challenge but Dallara did a good job. Suspension-wise, Ferrari helped us out because we are running low on suspension as well because they cannot keep up making it.

“But otherwise, as I always say with the budget, something else has to give. You cannot keep on just spending money you haven’t got.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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14 comments on ““Serious conversation” needed if Schumacher’s crashes continue – Steiner”

  1. In his defense crashing in the wet at Monaco—-more experience people crashed last weekend too. Jeddah was slightly less excusable. Miami with Vettel was just gp2 stuff.

    Bigger problem is that he’s way behind Magnussen on pace and his only other F1 benchmark was a bag of cash sitting in the other car. Also the car clearly no longer a disaster that corners like a blimp.

  2. Günther likes to portray himself as (somewhat) in control when in reality Mick can continue to crash for the remainder of his contract.

    1. For the remainder of a short contract.

  3. I think his Monaco crash damage was just really unfortunate. We’ve seen bigger impact crashes in Miami not break the car in two. Just unlucky.

    1. Coventry Climax
      9th June 2022, 16:12

      The unlucky part of the crash started with a clear driver error though, going off the line.
      Let’s face it, Mick is nowhere near the talent his dad was.
      As far as I’m concerned, he has no place in F1; he’s not nearly shown enough class for that in anything he raced, before and including F1.
      The media attention that the name alone generates is waning off as well, so there’s two options: He improves dramatically or he leaves F1. Usually it’s talks that trigger either.

      1. There’s a lower objective as well, he can try to be a ralf, he should however match magnussen, I’ve seen some signs he did in some circumstances, but not regularly so far.

    2. The car was designed to break apart there– which is probably a large reason why the chassis isn’t trashed.

      It won’t be the last car we see come back to the pits on two trucks.

  4. “Serious conversation” needed if Schumacher continues – Steiner

    FTFY

  5. I find Mick the opposite to his father.

    I thoroughly respected his father’s ability, but despised the cheating and the arrogance he portrayed throughout his career.

    I like Mick’s attitude, but he has nowhere near enough ability to be in formula 1, never mind to do well there.

    1. @sham I was thinking the same thing. Ralf seemed a bit more out of the reach than Michael but Mick is Mick. Maybe if he would be Mick Betsch (Corinnas’ surname) he would be treated differently

  6. Children of superstars rarely come anywhere near their parents’ achievements. Yet so many think they should follow in their steps. Like children of actors who apparently are incapable of doing anything worthwhile with their lives, so end up in Hollywood.

  7. What if the driver had to pay to repair the car when he’s solely responsible for a dumb crash? That might ease some teams’ financial burden. The whole world economy has been turned upside down and the budgets of many people and businesses have been shot in the head.

  8. Leave Mik alone. Gunther doesn’t deserve a place in F1 either. He is not a good leader. Good leader stand by their team in difficult times. He is doing exactly opposite. He did same to Grosjean and KMag. Now he is doing the same to Mik.

    1. I agree. GS became a “fan favourite” for his straight talking.

      The team would be in a better position if he focussed on making good decisions.

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