Haas team boss Günther Steiner warns that Mick Schumacher could now be under pressure to keep scoring points after finishing eighth in Silverstone
A long drought came to an end for Mick Schumacher at Silverstone this weekend as the German finished eighth to score points for the first time in his Formula One career – and that was after chasing world champion Max Verstappen, who was in a damaged Red Bull, to the chequered flag.
However, for all the joy of the result, Haas team boss Günther Steiner warns that expectations could now be set too high. “I think it will give him a little boost and boost his confidence,” he says. “But we have to be careful now that the pressure doesn’t get too high.”
Steiner fears that Schumacher will now always be criticised if he doesn’t score points, explaining, “Some people don’t understand. They are human beings, there are other 19 drivers who are great. And there are other nine teams that have good cars. “
“It’s a sport. The expectation shouldn’t be that he scores every race and then when he doesn’t he gets criticised again. That’s putting him on a pedestal and throwing him back down, and that’s not what we should be trying to do,” Steiner holds.
Steiner: No announcements during the race
With a view to the race, the team boss reveals that Schumacher was not told at any point to take it easy, not even in the duel with Verstappen: “No, he wasn’t told anything. They know what to do. If they fight and you start talking to them, you just confuse them. “
“I trust my boys. I know he wanted his points and he got them. I think he had everything under control.” Schumacher was joined in the points by teammate Kevin Magnussen at Silverstone, who finished tenth.
The double points came after the team had failed to score at all in the previous five races. “It motivates the guys,” Steiner knows.
Double points even with a bit of luck
“I kept telling them that they can do it, that we just can’t do it at the moment. We have to be patient, which is sometimes difficult when everyone thinks you are not doing a good job. But in the end we did it and we are in the points with two cars. That’s very good for the team.”
Yet the omens for the double success didn’t even look that promising: “We didn’t get a good race weekend this weekend because qualifying wasn’t good. But when the red flag came out, we got a little boost and we made up a few positions.”
“I think we started from 14th and 16th, which is not fantastic. But we made the best of it and ended up with two cars in the points, which is very good. We had enough bad luck, so a bit of luck came in handy. “
