Ex-Formula 1 owner Bernie Ecclestone has criticised Haas’ treatment of Mick Schumacher, insisting it used his “name “and wasn’t “interested” in his displays.
Schumacher embarked upon his F1 bow with the American squad in 2021, but he was dropped at the end of his sophomore campaign in favour of Nico Hulkenberg.
The German has been unable to salvage a return to the grid, with a venture in the World Endurance Championship with Alpine to be combined with Mercedes F1 reserve duties.
Erstwhile Haas Team Principal Guenther Steiner indicated that a plethora of crashes – which he revealed to be in the estimate of $700,000 – cost Schumacher his F1 drive.
However, Ecclestone, who witnessed the career of Mick’s seven-time champion father when he ran the sport, believes Haas only cared about the positives of being aligned with the reputable Schumacher name.
“Mick got lost on the wrong team with the wrong people. At Haas they took his name. They were never interested in how good or bad he was,” Ecclestone told BILD.
The Netflix Drive to Survive docuseries revealed how Schumacher’s presence within the team attracted sponsors towards Haas, most notably German company 1&1 AG.
Ecclestone’s comments come after Steiner, who was not retained beyond 2023, argued Haas “wouldn’t be around” without him sourcing revenue during the Covid pandemic.
“Obviously, I think without me in 2020 it wouldn’t have been around anymore. But Gene Haas owns the team so in the end he’s free to do what he wants,” he told Sky Sports.
“I cannot accuse him [Gene Haas, Team Owner] of anything. I can accuse him but it doesn’t do anything because he can make his decisions, he is free to decide.
“I am actually fine, my life will continue. I will have fun, I will stay around. Something will pop up. I’m doing good. In the end a good period in my life came to an end, but maybe an even better one starts,” he concluded.
Last year, Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff claimed that Steiner “would not have dared” to be outspoken about Schumacher’s performances if his father had been present.
“I can only say that his parents did nothing wrong in bringing him up,” Wolff said to the Swiss-German language newspaper Blick.
“And I claim that if Michael had accompanied his son during the two Haas years, Steiner would not have dared to treat Mick like that!”
But when informed about Wolff’s statement, Steiner admitted that it had been difficult to control the team amid the continuous spotlight attached to Schumacher’s actions.
“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.”
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