“****ing hell,” is team boss Guenther Steiner’s Saudi reaction when talking to owner Haas in the latest instalment of Drive to Survive. “We give him a year to learn, what does he do on the second day? He ****ing destroys the car, just because the other guy is faster.”
“Do you know how much I have to listen to Gene?” Steiner later says during the Azerbaijan weekend to a Haas team member as he also feels the heat. “Gene doesn’t hate anything more than someone crashing a car.” The team boss’s colleague then suggests “getting rid” of Schumacher.
Haas says he thinks Schumacher is “in over his head,” with things coming to a crunch in Baku, with the German running dead last in qualifying and the race.
As a clearly-rattled Schumacher runs round at the back, he frets on the team radio about overheating the brakes.
“He’s going so ****ing slow doesn’t need the brakes,” is Steiner’s reply, with even Schumacher’s mechanics exasperated with the situation.
Magnussen’s is captured suggesting Schumacher replacements
Haas
Come the British GP near the mid-point of the season, the German is yet to score a top-ten finish, while Magnussen already has three.
This prompts Haas to consider other options for the second seat, with DtS capturing a meeting with Magnussen putting forward who he thinks should get the drive.
Come the race though, Schumacher puts in one of his best performances coming home eighth and impressively duelling with reigning champion Max Verstappen.
The Haas driver would score points again next time out in Austria but, as we now know, it wasn’t enough to secure his place for 2023, with Nico Hülkenberg joining Haas and Schumacher heading over to Mercedes to fill its reserve role instead.