Piastri-Webber example highlighted after Schumacher failure

Guenther Steiner believes the Oscar Piastri-Mark Webber mentorship combination could have been a success for Mick Schumacher in his time in F1.

Schumacher left Steiner's Haas team at the end of 2022 following a two-season spell and is set for a third season out of F1 in '25 with only the Stake seat vacant outside of the Red Bull eco-system, but this is expected to be retained by Valtteri Bottas.

In his book Unfiltered, Steiner wrote that he believed Schumacher would have benefited from a racing mentor in a similar vein to the Piastri-Webber partnership that has proven beneficial for the Australian in his second season of grand prix racing. 

Steiner feels Webber's mentorship has been crucial to Piastri's strong form. 

"Mark for me is the key with Oscar," Steiner exclusively told RacingNews365 when explaining his belief Schumacher needed a mentor during his time in F1.

"I've told that to Mark, and not to be nice to him, but Oscar believes in Mark, and Mark has been through everything. Oscar does not make mistakes like a rookie does, not just on the race track but in general.

"Oscar is so complete for his age, and I am not putting that solely down to Mark, because Oscar for sure is a great talent and is a good guy, but Mark has helped so much. 

"Sebastian [Vettel], because he went through all this stuff, he could be a good guy to help somebody [like Mick]."

'Has to happen organically'

However, Steiner does not feel that rushing the selection of a mentor is something that should not be rushed but rather happen "organically."

"It is not easy to find that character, and it is very strange that something like Mark and Oscar happened," he said.

"The effort that Mark puts into it, it is nice to see there is no ego involved. He just wants to make his compatriot a world champion, but you need to find the combination.

"It happened organically, and after his [driving] career, Mark has done TV, he knows the media side and that is important and you want to replicate that. 

"But [for Mick], it would be trying to find the right person, and looking around for that person."