Mick Schumacher could be replaced by ‘queue’ of potential F1 drivers at Haas, warns Gunther Steiner

The German has yet to score a point in Formula 1

Mick Schumacher has won both the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships (Getty Images)

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner says “a queue of drivers” could potentially replace Mick Schumacher if the German’s Formula 1 performances don’t improve.

The 23-year-old Schumacher, son of seven-time world champion Michael, is one of only two full-time drivers who have failed to score at least one point in the opening rounds of the 2022 season, alongside Williams’ Nicholas Latifi.

In his debut campaign last year Schumacher was driving by far the worst car on the F1 grid, with Haas unable to challenge for a top ten finish at any point in the season. The American-owned outfit wrote the year off in order to concentrate their development efforts on 2022, and so far their strategy appears to be paying dividends, with the squad moving up the grid order into the midfield after the biggest regulation change F1 has undergone in a generation.

Having been partnered by Nikita Mazepin in 2021, who also failed to score a point, Schumacher is up against the returning Kevin Magnussen this time around, and has been comprehensively outperformed by the impressive Dane for a resurgent Haas squad in the first five races of F1’s new era.

Magnussen is currently tenth in the standings with 15 points, ahead of rivals including McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

The strength of Magnussen’s displays, having been brought back into the team at just two weeks notice following Mazepin’s pre-season sacking over his familial links to Russian president Vladimir Putin, have placed Schumacher’s future prospects under the microscope.

Now, Steiner is warning that Schumacher could be on the way out if he doesn’t raise his level of performance.

“You don’t have forever in Formula 1,” Steiner told Sport Bild in Germany. “There is a queue of drivers who want to drive in your place. I am sure that Mick is aware that no one will wait for him. He’s working very hard at it, but it’s very difficult. Formula 1 is not an easy business but I do see Mick going in the right direction.”

Schumacher is part of Ferrari’s young driver programme, but a race seat with the Scuderia will be impossible to come by until at least 2025, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz signed up to Mattia Binotto’s team until then.

The sixth round of the 2022 Formula 1 season takes place this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.