“There’s a reason why we took Nico,” Steiner told Auto Motor und Sport. “It’s not just because we like him. There’s a performance reason for that decision.”
Despite the tensions of 2021 and 2022, the director of the American team acknowledges that the young German driver “has improved a lot” during his second season in Formula 1.
Günther Steiner admits that what ‘frustrated’ him with Schumacher were his two particularly costly accidents in Saudi Arabia and Monaco.
“With those two dropouts, there’s something to be frustrated about. And sometimes you make statements that you don’t really mean,” Steiner said. “I know myself.”
“Schumacher’s name is both a curse and a blessing. And everyone thinks he has a right to have a say. But I say if you don’t contribute financially to the project, but you just have an opinion, you’re not taking any risks.”
“When I watch football I always have an opinion on who should go where,” he added. “But my opinion doesn’t count.”
If Günther Steiner compares his collaboration with Mick Schumacher as a “failed marriage”,
Steiner sees ‘no problem’ crossing Schumacher in….
he claims to be “completely relaxed” at the idea of being able to meet him in the paddocks next season. Indeed, if Mick Schumacher did not manage to find a regular steering wheel in 2023, he will still be present in the Mercedes garage.
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The former Ferrari-backed Haas driver has found a foothold with the Silver Arrows as a reserve driver.
“My relationship with Mick was better in the second half of the season than in the year and a half before,” he said. “I think we can look each other in the eye without a problem.”
The director of the American firm assures that the new role of Mick Schumacher at Mercedes will allow him to return to F1.
“I don’t know the contract, how long he will be in the simulator, how many practice sessions are planned,” he said. “But it’s not a bad decision.”
“I think it gives him the opportunity to be present in Formula 1. You know how F1 is: if you’re not there, you’re quickly forgotten and it stays that way,” concluded Günther Steiner.