Guenther Steiner has detailed why Haas decided not to let Mick Schumacher race in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following his crash in qualifying. The German suffered a high-speed incident in Q2 after losing the rear-end of his car going into Turn 12 on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Medical Car was quickly on the scene, and Schumacher was taken by ambulance to the Medical Centre. From there, he was flown to a nearby hospital for further checks, but was later released. The driver also issued an update to fans on social media, explaining that he was "okay". Prior to this, Haas confirmed that Schumacher would not participate in the Grand Prix.
Steiner says there were "too many unknowns" in letting Schumacher race
Steiner says that there were multiple factors in deciding not to enter Schumacher into the race. "We made the decision not to race with Mick," Steiner told media including RacingNews365.com . "There are too many unknowns, about how he will feel, and there's nothing to be gained." Steiner added that, with extensive work likely to be needed on Schumacher's car after the crash, the driver would have potentially had to start from the pit lane, denting the team's chances of scoring points.
Thinking ahead to the Australian Grand Prix
Another reason in choosing not to send a second car out in Jeddah was that Steiner felt it would have a longer-term benefit in terms of Haas' prospects at the next race on the calendar, the Australian Grand Prix. "You could work all night and then [on race morning] find out you've compromised yourself so much because you did everything in a hurry," the Team Principal explained. "Then you end up with not all the spare parts in Australia, and then you have a little thing [happen] in Australia, and then you cannot race when you in theory should be in a better position. "It doesn't make sense to me. It's just like trying too hard to call it." An added factor in this is the fact that the freight from the race will go directly to Australia, rather than being returned to the UK to be checked over. "You have to ship everything from here to Melbourne," Steiner added. "We cannot ship it to the UK now to do all the stuff on the car like you need, to crack check and all those other good things. "It would be just not a good job for knowing that you cannot end up in the points if you start from the pit lane this year, as there's too many good teams out there."
Schumacher reflects on Haas' decision not to race
Schumacher has since spoken about the incident, and admits that he can understand the team's decision not to enter him in the race, despite the fact that he would have felt physically able to. "I'm for sure ready," the German said ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix. "I would be ready to go racing, but [it's] just [about] component management, and also just car parts in general that we have to see and look after, so that we are surely able to race in Melbourne." When asked about the physical impact of the crash, Schumacher explained that he was feeling frustation more than anything else. "I was 100 per cent," he explained, emphasising his eagerness to race. "It was mainly frustration, and me being annoyed by the fact that this happened, and obviously just reflecting on what [I'd] just gone through and what I could have done better." Schumacher was still mindful of his health just after the accident, though: "I think that I just wanted to make sure before I start moving erratically around that everything is fine. "Obviously, all the marshals and also the doctors came by and made sure that I was all fine, and once I felt that I was okay and I could move I told them, but then they felt it was safer to do the medical checks and everything."
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