Toto Wolff believes Haas “would not have dared treat” Mick Schumacher the way it did had his legendary father been at his side during his two years with the US outfit.
Schumacher was dropped by Haas at the end of last year to make way for the experienced Nico Hulkenberg.
The first part of Schumacher’s 2022 campaign with the team, during which the young German crashed twice – in Jeddah and in Monaco – and wrote off a pair of VF-22 chassis likely weighed heavily in Haas’ decision to part ways with the 24-year-old.
Unfortunately, Schumacher’s much improved second half of the year was not enough to swing the pendulum back in his favour and award him a third year with the team.
Instead, the young gun was picked up by Mercedes to serve as its reserve driver.
“I can only say that his parents did nothing wrong in bringing him up,” Wolff told veteran F1 reporter Roger Benoit from Switzerland’s Blick.
“And I claim that if Michael had accompanied his son during the two Haas years, [Haas team boss] Steiner would not have dared to treat Mick like that!”
Schumacher is embedding this season with the Mercedes team at every race, and as the Brackley squad’s acting reserve, he is first in line to replace either Lewis Hamilton or George Russell if necessary.
“If one of our drivers gets Covid or gets injured, Mick will be in the Mercedes! Period, end of discussion!” stated Wolff.
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