Now Hulkenberg emerging as front runner for Haas F1 seat?
Sep.12 - A cloud is continuing to hang over Mick Schumacher's future in Formula 1.
Although the German has upped his game at recent grands prix, Haas boss Gunther Steiner admits that Kevin Magnussen's teammate for 2023 "hasn't been decided yet".
"We are considering what is best for the development of the team," he told Speed Week. "Do we only look at the technology or also the driving element?
Mick Schumacher, Haas F1 Team, takes a selfie with a fan during the Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring on Thursday July 07, 2022 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Andy Hone / LAT Images)
"To be honest, we don't know if Mick will stay or not. He delivered very good races in Canada, England and Austria, but he lacks the consistency to perform well.
"We're in no hurry on the driver issue and Mick still has chances to show what he can do," Steiner added.
Perhaps even more worryingly for the son of F1 legend Michael Schumacher is that the 23-year-old appears to have even lost the backing of Ferrari's driver academy.
"It was another unfortunate weekend for Mick," Ferrari's Mattia Binotto told Sky Italia when asked about Schumacher's future after the Italian GP. "So it's difficult to judge his performance after this weekend.
"We still have a few races and then we'll sit down with Haas and hopefully find the best decision for him and his future."
According to the German press, Nico Hulkenberg has emerged as the surprise front runner to emerge from his F1 sabbatical to form a very experienced driver lineup for Haas next year.
When asked about the 35-year-old German, Steiner answered at Monza: "I've talked to most of the potential drivers, which is my job.
"There's nothing concrete yet, but we only want to take the smallest risks for the development of the team. You can take a big risk which is great when it works, but it's bad when it doesn't."
The implication of that is that Haas is looking for an experienced and technically-minded teammate for Dane Magnussen.
"That's right, but there are none of those who are currently on the market," said Steiner. "Except maybe Daniel (Ricciardo), but his form isn't great at the moment and we don't know what he's going to do.
"Maybe he'll sit out a year. As I said, I talk to everyone."
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No, a last-resort choice at best, given how long he's been away from active racing, not only F1 but racing generally, which effectively makes him semi-retired.
Gio is definitely the outright favorite should Mick leave Haas, as he was a regular driver as recently as last season & has done active racing this year to keep himself racing sharp.
Drivers generally haven't become regulars again after more than a single season away from regular F1 racing unless they've achieved previous success. For example, Alonso & Kimi after two seasons, or even Schumi after three seasons, so people should be realistic with their expectations.
No chance for Gio, completely out of his depth in F1, can only think he had the cash.
He's a far safer option, given he doesn't lack any active-racing sharpness. Hulk had his time, so time to move on.
Hulk is OK for Haas. Haas is the least ambitious team, doing the least possible to generate a car, by buying as much as they can from Ferrari, and praying that the remainder somewhat works. If they want a cheap experienced driver, who is begging for a seat, it can do them no harm to get the Hulk. Even if they had 2 of the top drivers, their results wouldn't be much better.
Must have sponsors as how else would anyone consider employing such a mundane driver
Hope he stays out of people's way
Money 💰 at any cost
How many hours has NH spend on the AM simulator, anyone know, nope thought not, not that that replaces real race time, but he isnt as rusty as people think, while being good enough to turn down a race seat for Mcl in Indy car, as for managing expectations, as ambitious as Haas are or say they are, they need more reliable drivers with or without LUCK, im all for Msc jnr staying, but the clocks ticking
Nh always seems to be every teams spare driver, and why not, he's steady & reliable but dare I say it "somewhat stale" where as young drivers have got that new enthusiasm that you can't help but watch, now Alonso in comparison is totally up there no matter what teams he drives for he gives his all and somehow gets the cars up there competing with the best, problem is there is only one Alonso,, so I think there's only one way to go pull in the young guns forget about special licences "mission possible" let's go find some more Alonsos and drop the drivers who get tired, all good for F1. "come on..."
What I'm saying is,, look at max, hit the track running,CL, CS, GR, LN has had some brilliant efforts they tend to fight the car & get the most out of the machine & there are drivers who keep blaming the cars like sir Lulu & DR they seem to get tired & want the car to do all the work,,, just saying.