Steiner deliberately made Schumacher and Mazepin 'learn the hard way'

F1 News

23 January 2022 at 16:17
Last update 23 January 2022 at 22:15
  • GPblog.com

Haas rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin did not have it easy in their first Formula One season. They had to make do with a car that was not developed and was consitently the worst on the grid. Team boss Guenther Steiner thought it was better to let his drivers "learn the hard way".

Haas chose to treat 2021 as a transitional year and not develop the car further for that season, allowing it to focus all its resources on the new regulations for 2022. The result was last place in the Constructors' Championship and no points.

Steiner didn't have to be annoyed in 2021

Meanwhile, rookies Schumacher and Mazepin had to learn about Formula 1 in that car. Steiner acknowledged that that situation was not the easiest, but deliberately chose to let his drivers learn from their mistakes themselves. In conversation with Motorsport.com he said that 'pampering' is not the right way to let drivers get used to it.

According to Steiner, the hard way is better because drivers learn the most by making mistakes themselves. Moreover, Haas had "nothing to lose" in 2021, because the car was not developed. For that reason, the room was also there to make mistakes.

He did have to remind them at the beginning of the season not to fight too hard among themselves for nineteenth place. Apart from that it has been an extremely relaxed season for the usually hot-tempered Steiner: the only good thing about last season he calls the fact that he 'didn't have to get upset'.