Guenther Steiner has responded to Toto Wolff’s criticism of how Mick Schumacher was treated during his time at Haas.
Steiner was highly critical of Schumacher’s performances at Haas and hinted that he lost confidence in the young German after a costly practice crash ahead of the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.
Out of a race seat for 2023, Mercedes picked up Schumacher as a reserve driver following his departure from Haas.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff was highly critical of Steiner’s handling of the situation, saying he “would not have dared” to treat Schumacher in the way that he did if his father had been present.
Steiner responded to Wolff’s comments when speaking to Sky Sports, saying: “What I have to say is, if my father would have been around Toto wouldn’t have said the things he said.”
Expanding on his relationship with Mick Schumacher, Steiner continued: “It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t easy to manage that one because there was a lot of pressure from outside because of his last name.
“Then obviously he had the big crashes, which was very difficult to manage as well for the team because it was big damage. Which again you need to re-focus your budget on different things, as now with the budget cap you need to invest money in performance.
“It wasn’t easy, but racing is not easy and coming up for young guys in Formula 1 is very tough and nobody deserves to be in Formula 1, you need to perform.”
In his book, Surviving to Drive: A Year Inside Formula 1, Steiner refers to criticism from the German media about his handling of Schumacher which he felt impacted the driver’s performance.
“I think they tried to put pressure on to keep Mick and blame all the team and I don’t think that was good for Mick,” he said.
“In the end, they didn’t actively try to divide us but that’s what they did. I think he didn’t feel good when he heard the things talked about me and I didn’t feel good coming from their side. In the end, they tried to divide us.
“This is not good for Mick, even if they try to do this because in the end the team decides who is going to drive the car and not the driver which car he is driving.
“There is no point to upset a team about a driver because you want to say ‘Guenther didn’t take care enough of Mick and how I do things’.
“In the end, he scored points. Nobody says ‘that’s because Guenther managed Mick like this’, nobody came with that and I don’t expect that like I don’t expect to be blamed if he crashes. The driver has to do that himself to get the points and not to crash.
“The responsibility of the team is to give the driver the best car they can, and we always did that, and be fair to both drivers that they both get the same level of car, we always did that.
“And if we didn’t do that then we explained, for example, that an upgrade, only one part was available and you share it.
“We were very open about it, we never hid anything or gave an advantage to one or the other driver because that is a principle of my life – you need to treat people fairly to get the best out of it.
“In the end, who wants the drivers to perform at their best? Me and the team so why would I try to sabotage any of our drivers?
“In the end, this is part of a team principal life that some people don’t like what you’re doing. I don’t really care if somebody doesn’t like what I do.
“Just say it – it doesn’t do anything, I will not change because I don’t feel I need to change because of somebody who has not walked in the team.”
Steiner also admitted he has had minimal contact with Schumacher since he left the team but that he has no issues with his former driver following his replacement with Nico Hulkenberg.
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