“A bit cheap” if Haas asked Mick Schumacher to stay as a reserve

Schumacher is not in the F1 2023 driver line-up after his tumultuous relationship with Steiner ended in him being dumped.

The young driver was regularly criticised by his team principal for the regularity of his crashes.

Schumacher will instead be Mercedes’ third driver, a role that Steiner did not want to offer him at Haas, he told GPFans: “I didn’t ask him, to be honest.

“It’s always difficult for somebody, if you have driven for a team, to then be relegated to reserve driver. I don’t think he would be happy with that.

“He didn’t approach me about that, and I didn’t want to [discuss it].

“It’s a bit cheap to ask him: ‘We won’t let you drive the car, but would you like to be the reserve driver’.”

Schumacher added; “I’m 99 percent sure that I’ll come to every race and yes, just be around and again, position myself into a place where hopefully in ’24 I’ll be back on the grid.”

The door has been left ajar by Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff for Schumacher to eventually fill one of their full-time seats.

“Just as we let Nyck de Vries go to make a career for himself, the same could happen with Mick,” said Wolff. “Whether it’s with our team or somewhere else. We don’t know yet.

“The most important factor is his personality. He is a well-mannered, intelligent and talented young man. If you look at his junior career, he was very good.”