Mick Schumacher suffered a horrific crash at the Monaco Grand Prix last week which reportedly cost Haas $1 million in damages.
Schumacher has a torrid time behind the wheel in 2022. Last season was his first in F1, where he was paired alongside fellow rookie Nikita Mazepin at Haas.
2021 was a decent year, and he consistently outperformed his teammate throughout the season. At the start of this campaign, Mazepin was dropped and Kevin Magnussen replaced him in the team. Their partnership however, has been a completely different story.
Haas have a much better car this year, and Magnussen has earned 15 points in the first seven races. Schumacher on the other hand has failed to put his VF-22 into the points in any of the rounds. On top of that, his crashes have been a problem for the team financially.
Schumacher’s uncle Ralf, feels that the young German should take the blame for what happened. In particular, he talks about how the crash in Monaco last week was completely his fault.
Mick Schumacher should not be making mistakes like this at this level
Ralf Schumacher, who raced in F1 from 1997-2007 did not hold back while criticizing his nephew. He insists that if he wants to succeed in F1, the 23-year old has to avoid making mistakes like the one he made in Monaco.
“The failure in the race was his fault,” he said. “Others drove past this point without any problems, but not him. At first I thought he hit the guardrail and had a slow puncture but that was not the cause of the accident.”
“He got onto the wet and that’s a mistake you can’t afford to make. That is punished mercilessly, as you have seen. Not only was the whole race ruined, but a badly damaged car also has budgetary consequences for the team.”
Schumacher has had a poor record in street circuits in his young F1 career up till now. He crashed at last year’s Monaco and Saudi Arabian GP, and followed suit this season too. The total damage in all four of these crashes reportedly amounted up to $3.5 million.
F1 returns next weekend when teams and drivers travel to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It’s a street track, so Haas will be worried about Schumacher adding to the bills.
