After two years at Haas, Mick Schumacher will have to do without a place in Formula 1 this year – at least as a regular driver. In the new season of the Netflix documentary “Drive to Survive” there should be scenes that show explosive phone calls between Haas team boss Günther Steiner and his boss Gene Haas.
Netflix itself published the names of the ten episodes before the season started (February 24). Episode three, which is called “Like Father, Like Son” (German: “Like Father, Like Son”), will deal intensively with Mick Schumacher’s season.
Although the German finally got his first points in Formula 1 last year, he only managed to do so in the summer. The son of record world champion Michael Schumacher had previously struggled and had several accidents in Saudi Arabia, Miami and Monaco.
Formula 1: The atmosphere at Haas was tense early on in 2022
As the “Bild” reports, the situation within the team was already extremely tense at the second race of the season.
Accordingly, the documentary series shows how Günther Steiner calls Gene Haas and talks about the 23-year-old’s accident in Saudi Arabia: “We gave him a year to learn and what does he do? In the second race he destroys damn another car just because the other one is faster.” Gene Haas replies that Schumacher is getting “over his head”.
In Miami, where Schumacher was on course for points for a long time, he collided with Sebastian Vettel a few laps before the end, which ultimately dropped him from the top ten. Netflix shows a scene that happened after the race. You can see how Steiner talks to Schumacher’s teammate Kevin Magnussen. The Dane makes it clear that he believes in the Germans: “Mick can do it. He has even more in him.”
Steiner agrees, but explains that Schumacher always crashes when he tries to get more out of the car.
Team boss Haas denied Schumacher’s suitability for Formula 1
The race in Monaco then delivers the highlight. In the swimming pool chicane, “Mini-Schumi” loses control of his car, which tears in two after the impact. Although Mick is unhurt, the atmosphere at Haas is more tense than ever after this race.
Team boss Gene Haas even denied Schumacher’s skills in a phone call to Steiner: “You need talent. You can’t develop talent.”
In the course of the rest of the season, Schumacher managed not to cause any major accidents, but he was not allowed to keep his place in the team. Haas is counting on returning Nico Hulkenberg in 2023. Schumacher acts as a replacement driver at Mercedes.