Guenther Steiner’s Mick Schumacher decision branded a ‘waste of time’

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Guenther Steiner’s decision to switch Mick Schumacher with Nico Hulkenberg was a “waste of time”, according to former Force India and Red Bull engineer Blake Hinsey. He claims Steiner’s move to go with Hulkenberg over the young German was a “weird appointment” and “doesn’t make sense”.

Hinsey stresses Schumacher didn’t get a chance to show his true talent as he was only “finding his feet” and could have been better than Hulkenberg after a couple more years in the seat.

He told GP Fans: “I like Nico, because he was on the other car when I was at Force India. He’s a good driver – is he going to be better in two years than Mick would be in two years? I have no idea. And that’s super hard to tell!

“It seems like Mick didn’t really push. He was just really finding his feet and had a couple of moments in the middle of the season where you’re like, ‘Alright, alright’, but now it’s super hard to say. It’s a really weird appointment and I think it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Schumacher was axed at Haas ahead of the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi after failing to impress Steiner. The Austrian and team boss Gene Haas had called for Schumacher to earn more points to secure a drive.

However, the former F2 champion finished in the top 10 just twice all season and didn’t score in the final 11 events. Steiner was also critical of Schumacher’s accident record after three heavy hits which could have cost the team millions to repair.

The young 23-year-old German has since signed with Mercedes as a reserve driver for 2023. Steiner has since revealed that Haas’ decision was down to wanting more experience in the cockpit to build on a relatively successful 2022.

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Haas moved from backmarkers to scoring points on seven occasions and picking up a shock pole in Brazil. He told F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast: “Mick can [become] a good driver, or he’s already a good driver, but he can get better. But how long does it take us? Because he’s growing with us, he cannot make us grow. We said, ‘How can we do that?’

“We looked around and we knew Nico – we had a few discussions in the years before with him and it never materialised that he came to work with us – so obviously there was the respect there. He was on the market, he hasn’t driven now full-time for three years, [so we wondered], can he do it?

“He drove two races [with Aston Martin] this year, and he did do pretty well. We evaluated what is better for the team and in the end it came out that it is better to get an experienced driver to make the team move up quicker.”

Guenther Steiner’s decision to switch Mick Schumacher with Nico Hulkenberg was a “waste of time”, according to former Force India and Red Bull engineer Blake Hinsey.

He claims Steiner’s move to go with Hulkenberg over the young German was a “weird appointment” and “doesn’t make sense”.

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