Mick Schumacher has opened up on how welcomed Mercedes have made him feel at the team since his arrival. The 24-year-old previously drove for Haas for two seasons after which he was ousted for his poor performances.
Schumacher not only struggled to score points for the Haas team on a consistent basis but also crashed on several occasions, thereby costing the American outfit millions in repairs. The German scored no points in 2021 and had three DNFs.
While Schumacher improved in the 2022 season, his performances were yet far from ideal. The 24-year-old scored just 12 points and had two DNFs.
Mick Schumacher claims he feels welcomed at Mercedes
Schumacher has begun a Mick’s Diary page on Mercedes F1’s official website, where he will share his thoughts and experiences throughout the year. In his first entry, he explains how Mercedes has made him feel welcome on the team.
He says that he has been ‘settling in great’ as everyone is open-minded with him. The German then went on to give a specific word of praise to the simulator team for being ‘super kind’ to him. Schumacher explained how this team made him feel comfortable in understanding the complexities of the simulator.
Schumacher seemingly aims a dig at Haas
In his diary, Mick Schumacher seemingly also took a dig at Haas by claiming that he was not sure of what he was missing until he became ‘a part of it’ at Mercedes. He then went on to add, “What I really appreciate in working with those engineers (at Mercedes) is that they are genuinely listening to you and your opinion matters”.
However, a similar environment was not present at Haas where Schumacher was constantly targeted. As revealed by F1 pundit Sam Collins, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner recently wrote a book where he provided a detailed account of Schumacher’s shortcomings.
Steiner began by writing, “Jeezoz [sic], where do I start”? He then went on to state how the board would react whenever Schumacher crashed the car. “‘He crashed again Guenther. What’s the point of having a good car when you don’t score any points and keep wrecking them, the board would say'”, revealed Steiner.
This was far from the end of Steiner’s criticism of Schumacher. The 58-year-old ended his remarks by stating how Schumacher would never accept the blame even if he was at fault.
“If you f*** up, admit that you f***** up, apologize and then try and improve. That’s what he needs to do. Although I’d prefer if he just stopped,” added Steiner. These remarks clearly seem to suggest that things had gone beyond repair for Schumacher at Haas.
